Jill Sprecher Convinces Kinnear, Arkin and Crudup for ‘The Convincer’

13 Conversations About One Thing has the distinction of being a rare “Matthew McConaughey film” that I’ve actually cared about (Lone Star and Dazed and Confused are the other two), but Jill Sprecher’s sophomore film also happens to have been a Top 20 film of mine back in 2002. The pic received a long theatrical run from the SPC folks, was shown at Venice, TIFF and Sundance, but apart from producing about a dozen shows of Big Love, the film didn’t culminate into full fledged filmmaking career for Sprecher. That inactivity is officially finished with as of now.

Screen Daily reports that Mary Frances Budig (Final), Werc Werk Works’ Christine Walker and Elizabeth Redleaf are producing the Fargo-esque tale (the crime plotline and winterscape backdrop makes this comparison apropos) with filming set to begin next week in Twin Cities, Minnesota. 

Scripted by the “Coen-sisters”, Jill and Karen Sprecher (sister and creative partner), The Convincer will feature a trio of vet indie actors in Billy Crudup, Greg Kinnear and Alan Arkin (who was also featured in Sprecher’s 13 Convos…) in a story about a desperate insurance salesman who devises a plot to obtain a rare violin.