The Phoenix may be set to rise from the ashes. A while ago Columbia was working on an adaptation of novel The Wettest County In The World, based on a true story of Depression era bootleggers. However the project was put into turnaround, after the studio decided they couldn’t see the commercial potential and therefore didn’t want to make it.
However this hasn’t put off The Road director John Hilllcoat, who’s still really keen on making the film and has been busily trying to put it together as an indie project. It seems he may get a big boost from the fact THR is reporting that a lot of very hot young actors are interested in the movie, including Shia Labeouf, Ryan Gosling and Scarlet Johnasson, while the names of Paul Dano and Michael Shannon have also surfaced in connection with the film.
The film itself would be based on the story of Wettest County author Matt Bondurant’s grandfather and two great-uncles, who were the centre of a fierce criminal gang at the centre of the US’s moonshine trade during prohibition. Described as a sweeping epic set in the American south, the story also follows a writer named Sherwood Anderson, who is on the trail of the bootlegging gang.
Hillcoat will be hoping that the interest of all these actors, none of whom have officially signed on yet, will be enough to get the financing he needs for the movie. There’s little doubt that if he got all these young actors to sign up, it could be one hell of a star-studded and interesting flick. However maybe they ought to change the title, as The Wettest County In The World does make it sound a bit like a porn epic.