David Lowery has expanded his short film and Sundance Screenwriters Lab piece “Ain’t Them Bodies Saints”, and has set Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara and Ben Foster to star in the feature, reports Deadline.
Lowery wrote the script and will make his feature directorial debut on the project, which he hopes to shoot this summer and have ready in time for Sundance 2013. Plot details are vague, but it’s described as revolving around an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across Texas to reunite with his wife and the child he has never met. Presumably Mara would play the wife but no word on which of Affleck or Foster will play the outlaw (though our bet would be on Affleck). It’s said to have the tone and atmosphere of a modern western.
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” Mara seems to be the name on Hollywood’s minds these days as this is the third project she has landed in as many days. She’s currently filming “Bitter Pill” for Steven Soderbergh, and will then immediately transition to Spike Jonze’s secretive and untitled new film. Presumably “Ain’t Them bodies Saints” will follow, and then in September she’s committed to Terrence Malick’s (previously titled) “Lawless” opposite Ryan Gosling. Foster, last seen in “Rampart” and “Contraband”, just wrapped up playing William Burroughs in Beat poet biopic “Kill Your Darlings” and will star in Peter Berg’s Navy SEAL actioner “Lone Survivor.” Affleck, who won an Oscar nomination for his breakout role in “The Assassination of Jesse James”, is currently filming “Out of the Furnace” after beating out Taylor Kitsch and Garrett Hedlund for the highly coveted role of Christian Bale’s younger brother.
