Alexandre Moors Has Huston, Aniston, Sheridan & Ehrenreich Reporting for Duty in “The Yellow Birds”

His cold, steely biopic Blue Caprice might have not received the same fanfare as Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, but both were nonetheless stellar offerings at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival (here was my recap). A project that we could perhaps lump into the same category as Oren Moverman’s The Messenger was originally mounted at Cannes has changed its components of its line-up, Variety reports that The Yellow Birds now sees Alexandre Moors replace David Lowery in the director’s chair, while Jack Huston replaces Benedict Cumberbatch in the role of Sergeant Sterling in an Iraq war drama that includes Jennifer Aniston, Tye Sheridan and Alden Ehrenreich. Story Mining and Supply Co. CEO-president Jeffrey Sharp and Evan Hayes (The Circle) are producing along with Cinelou Films’ Courtney Solomon and Mark Canton (Cake). Jim Kohlberg (The Music Never Stopped) will executive produce.

Gist: Scripted by David Lowery, this is based on the novel by Kevin Powers, this is about two young soldiers, Bartle (21) and Murph (18) who navigate the terrors of the Iraq war under the command of the older, troubled Sergeant Sterling (Huston). All the while, Bartle is tortured by a promise he made to Murph’s mother (Aniston) before their deployment.

Worth Noting: Published in 2012, the book was a finalist for the National Book Award.

Do We Care?: While Moors certainly feels right director for a thumping drama and we easily welcome any sophomore effort from this talent, we’re fairly certain that no new ground will be visited here with regards to the Iraq war subject matters.