John C. Reilly plays ‘Betty Anne Waters’ Brother Behind Bars

After a long stint of solely flexing his comedic acting muscles, John C. Reilly is poised to come back to dramatic terrain. Sources tell us that, he’ll play Kenneth Waters, the brother behind bars to Hilary Swank’s Betty Anne Waters.

Scripted by Pamela Gray and to be directed by Tony Goldwyn, this is based on the true story of a high school dropout who represented her brother in a murder case. It tells how Waters, an unemployed single mother of two, saw her brother begin serving a life sentence in 1983 for murder and robbery. Convinced that he was innocent, she spent the next 12 years taking the steps to earn a law degree, and in 1995 she began focusing on her brother’s case. Challenging the conviction with DNA evidence, she proved her brother’s innocence, and in March 2001, Kenneth walked out a free man.

Currently in pre-production, filming should begin next month. Reilly will next be seen in Paul Weitz’s Cirque du Freak and did some voice work in Shane Acker’s animated sci-fi project, “9.”