The revival of John Hillcoat’s The Wettest Country in the World continues as news surfaces that Tom Hardy will join Shia LaBeouf to play two of three brothers in the director’s follow-up to The Road. Based on the Matt Bondurant novel of the same name, the adaptation, penned by The Proposition writer Nick Cave, fell apart after The Road underperformed and caused Hillcoat’s financial backer on both projects, Millenium Films, to downsize. But now Hillcoat and Cave, along with producers described only as “the producers of Jarhead and Girl, Interrupted” – perhaps meaning Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher – are back on track with development and aim to start lensing as early as this upcoming spring.
Gist: When news of the adaptation broke last year, Cave’s screenplay was titled “The Promised Land.” The Wettest Country in the World centers on the story of three brothers – Forrest, Howard and Jack in order of age and toughness – running a bootlegging gang during 1930’s Prohibition whose moonshine dynasty in Franklin County, Virginia is threatened by the authorities wanting a cut. The tale is told through the eyes of the youngest brother (likely to be played by Labeouf) who doesn’t really have the stomach for violence or taste for madness and drink that his wild older brothers do. In many ways, it’s the tale of the younger Bondurant building character and becoming a man, but not necessarily by following in his brother’s footsteps. Forrest is described as a giant, Howard a drunk and Jack as the runt of the trio.
Worth Noting: No word on who will play the third brother, however, when LaBeouf was added to the project last year, other names floating around were Ryan Gosling, Paul Dano, Michael Shannon, Scarlett Johansson and Amy Adams. Hillcoat had named Gosling in particular to possibly play the middle brother, Howard, with the actor busy shooting George Clooney’s The Ides of March around the same time, his involvement now seems unlikely. Hardy, who’s stock has risen this past year, will make an acceptable replacement.
Do We Care?: Prohibition-era stories have become popular this past year – maybe due to our current economic climate drawing comparison to that of the 30’s – but don’t think The Wettest Country in the World will be anything like Scorcese and HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. This story falls nowhere near Empire’s glitzy world – it instead focuses on “shack-living, overall wearing, Southern hicks who face extreme poverty.” This sounds more like the Hillcoat we know, and thus, are extremely happy with news that his film is back on track.
