It was a long, eventful road that John Hillcoat's adaptation of Matt Bondurant's "The Wettest County In The World" took into production, but the Nick Cave-scripted, Prohibition-era drama — now titled "Lawless" — will finally hit theaters on August 31st with a star-studded cast in tow. At the heart of all the action and drama is the youngest of the three Bondurant brothers, played by Shia LaBeouf, who finds himself front and center for the film's latest poster.
The story follows the aforementioned brothers who struggle to hang on to their lucrative moonshine business during the fading years of prohibition, with a sadistic special agent on their tail. As our Cannes reviewer notes, the film is a straight up genre piece and probably won't be threatening to come the Oscars next winter, but "as far as top-tier storytelling goes, it doesn't get much better than this" despite the fact it "doesn't quite achieve the lyricism or thematic depth that Hillcoat previously attained." It sounds like the tagline on this new poster says it all: When the law was corrupt, outlaws became heroes. Update: Empire has a cool U.K. quad poster.
Red Shia LaBeouf poster removed at the request of The Weinstein Company.
One film that is being touted as an award season contender is Roger Michell's "Hyde Park On Hudson," which has also unveiled a new poster. Starring Bill Murray as Franklin Roosevelt and Laura Linney as Margaret Suckley, the film follows a weekend when FDR and his wife Eleanor (Olivia Williams) went to a country retreat on the Hudson with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (Samuel West and Olivia Colman), as Roosevelt considers whether to enter the war. But there's more; Roosevelt's cousin and rumored mistress Suckley (Linney) is there as well, sure to cause trouble and heartache.
The film already has a December 7th release date through Focus Features, which seemingly bodes well for its prospects, with Murray's performance sure to be put under the microscope. The much-loved enigmatic actor has one Best Actor nod for "Lost In Translation" and was considered a favorite to win that night, only to be pipped by Sean Penn. Could this role be the one that takes him across the line? [via Hollywood-Elsewhere]