Actors have a thirst for 'Wettest County'

Source: riskybusinessblog

By Steven Zeitchik and Borys Kit

A period drama that’s in turnaround from a major studio wouldn’t necessarily be expected to make many waves in the Hollywood tentpole era.

But that’s pretty much what “The Wettest County in the World” — a story of Depression-era bootleggers from Red Wagon and “The Road” director John Hillcoat — is doing.

The project was set up at Columbia about a year-and-a-half ago. But it has since been put in turnaround and is now in the process of being reconfigured as an indie, with financing still coming together.

But that hasn’t stopped the project from becoming the brass ring for the next generation of Hollywood A-listers.

Shia LaBeouf, Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Gosling are among the actors whose names have been presented as associated with the project to reps and execs around town (though none is yet on board). The names of Paul Dano and Michael Shannon have also surfaced in connection with the project.

Between them, the group has seven Oscar and Golden Globe nominations (thank you, Gosling, Johansson and Shannon) and three of the ten highest-grossing movies since 2007 (thank you, Shia LaBeouf). None is over the age of 35.

“Wettest” is a sweeping, historical crime drama of the American South, based on the author Matt Bondurant’s grandfather and two great-uncles — three brothers who made up a fierce criminal gang at the center of the country’s moonshine trade (it's that kind of wetness). The book also tracks a parallel story involving a writer named Sherwood Anderson who was on the trail of the bootlegging story, reporting on the moonshine trade and researching his 1936 novel "Kit Brandon."

The colorful setting and mystery elements — not to mention the meaty roles — have kept the actors' appetites, well, whet, even as the project lacks financing or a start date. Which shows something interesting, a few observers pointed out: that even as studios take fewer risks, worthy projects will be sustained by the talent that seeks them out, actors who desire prestige parts no matter who’s making the movie.

Not that Red Wagon doesn't have a strong pedigree in its own right. The company is of course the Doug Wick and Lucy Fisher banner that was behind such well-regarded pics as “Jarhead” and “Girl, Interrupted” and a number of upcoming buzz projects — the “Jekyll” reboot at Universal and the Adam Shankman-produced “Bye Bye Birdie” update, to name two.

The momentum "Wettest" has been able to gain also speaks to the trend of projects being repackaged and reconfigured as indies as studios cut back on development money and slate slots. Universal put Darren Aronofsky’s supernatural drama “Black Swan” in turnaround, prompting it to be reconfigured as an indie financed by Overnight Films, and Paramount’s Ryan Fleck-Anna Boden dramedy “It’s Kind of a Funny Story” ended up as an indie funded by Wayfare Entertainment before landing at Focus.