Jeff Bridges To Star In Adaptation Of National Book Ward Winner 'Shadow Country,' Penned By David Milch

Jeff Bridges Shadow CountryWhile fans of "Deadwood" were buoyed last month with the news that a movie continuing the events of the series is on the way, the show’s creator David Milch is facing personal hurdles just as his signature professional achievement gets new life. Last week, THR published a profile of Milch, chronicling his battle with a gambling addiction that has nearly ruined him financially. Nonetheless, HBO has more than one Milch-helmed project on the way.

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In addition to the "Deadwood" movie, the trade reveals that Milch is penning an adaptation of Peter Matthiessen‘s National Book Award winning "Shadow Country" with Jeff Bridges attached to star. The massive, 900 plus-page tome tracks the legend of 19th century outlaw E. J. Watson. Here’s the book synopsis: 

Inspired by a near-mythic event of the wild Florida frontier at the turn of the twentieth century, Shadow Country reimagines the legend of the inspired Everglades sugar planter and notorious outlaw E. J. Watson, who drives himself relentlessly toward his own violent end at the hands of neighbors who mostly admired him, in a killing that obsessed his favorite son.
Shadow Country traverses strange landscapes and frontier hinterlands inhabited by Americans of every provenance and color, including the black and Indian inheritors of the archaic racism that, as Watson’s wife observed, "still casts its shadow over the nation."

There’s no word yet on who might direct this project. If you’ve read the book, weigh in below and let us know if Milch and Bridges can make it work.