John Hillcoat adapting THE WETTEST COUNTY IN THE WORLD
THE PROPOSITION director to helm historical crime drama based on the true story of a moonshine gang operating in Franklin County during Prohibition.
John Hillcoat (The Proposition) will direct an adaptation of Matt Bondurant's upcoming novel The Wettest County in the World for Columbia Pictures says today's Variety. Based on a true story, the book as will the film revolves around a moonshine gang operating in the bootlegging capital of America -- Franklin County, Va. -- during Prohibition.
The novel, to be published by Scribner/Simon & Schuster in October, draws its roots from Bondurant's grandfather and two granduncles, who made up a fierce criminal gang at the center of the country's moonshine trade. The three brothers were eventually killed in 1930 after they refused to join the illegal cartel set up by Commonwealth's Attorney Carter Lee, grandnephew of Robert E. Lee. Carter Lee was subsequently tried for conspiracy.It's said that the book has a distinct and strong narrative voice in the tradition of some of the great American novels and matched with the beautiful imagery and directing style of Hillcoat, it should be transformed into a cool film. Hillcoat I have a feeling might be a director to watch in the future. He is currently helming the apolcayptic thriller The Road along with Viggo Mortensen, Guy Pearce, Robert Duvall and Charlize Theron which is based on the mega popular Cormac McCarthy novel. Really can't wait for that. And as if I haven't told ya enough times. You should really check out The Proposition. You may not be fully aware of Hillcoat right now but at the end of this decade he is going to be a director whose flicks you just can't wait to see.