Matthew McConaughey doesn’t exactly strike me as the contract killing type, but apparently he’s going to have a go, as THR reports he’s just signed up to play an assassin in Killer Joe, which can also now count Emile Hirsch amongst its cast.
William Friedkin is directing the film, based on a script by Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning writer Tracy Letts. Hopefully those awards mean she’s added a bit of spice to the rather standard plot of a brother (Hirsch) and siters, who plot the death of their mother for the insurance money and hire “Killer Joe” Cooper, a cop and contract killer (McConaughey) to do the deed. Presumably with McConaughey in the role, he’ll be the most laidback killer ever.
The film is pitched as a comedy, and hopefully it’ll work better than the likes of Throw Momma From The Train. Whether this will mark a comeback for Friedkin is yet to be seen, as while he had an impressive career through the 70s and 80s, directing the likes of Exorcist and The French Connection, his career has tailed off, so that the only thing he’s directed since 2006’s Bug are episodes of CSI. Shooting on Killer Joe is set to start in New Orleans in November.