As one of our most anticipated films of the current quarter, I’m anxious to get a look at director John Hillcoat’s Prohibition drama, Lawless, which debuts at the end of the month.  Two new behind-the-scenes featurettes have gone online that show not only new footage from the Depression era film, but the true story behind the plot.  Nick Cave (The Proposition) adapted the novel by Matt Bondurant which tells the tale of the bootlegging Bondurant family and the government officials who wanted to wet their beaks. Starring Tom Hardy, Shia LaBeouf, Guy Pearce, Gary Oldman, Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska, Lawless opens August 29th.  Hit the jump to see the new featurettes.

In a summer filled with superhero spectacles and sci-fi extravaganzas, it’s nice to get back to the roots of Depression-era, moonshine-runnin’ crime dramas.  Director John Hillcoat (The Road) has the cure for what ails you in Lawless, an adaptation of the Matt Bondurant novel, “The Wettest County in the World.”  Lawless stars Shia LaBeouf (Transformers) and Tom Hardy (Inception) as the Bondurant brothers, Southern bootleggers during the Prohibition era.  A new clip from the film shows a nice moment between the two characters and highlights the range of both.  Another clip introduces the strangely androgynous character, Special Agent Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce) who has swooped in from Chicago to shut the Bondurants down.  There’s some good stuff on display here, hints of which were seen in this trailer.  You should also check out these awesome character posters.  Lawless, also starring Jessica Chastain, Gary Oldman, Jason Clarke, Mia Wasikowska and Dane DeHaan will debut in theaters on August 29th.  Hit the jump to see the clips.

We have a couple of casting tidbits to send your way this afternoon.  First up, Neve Campbell is currently in negotiations to join Singularity alongside confirmed star Josh Hartnett.  Singularity will be directed by two-time Oscar nominee Roland Joffe (The Mission) and will take place in 1778 and 2015 concurrently.  According to THR, Campbell would play Hartnett’s wife in 2015 and would manage to “get stuck in a sunken ship while trying to retrieve a ring.”  The film is set to begin shooting in Australia and India in January.

Next, Jessica Chastain (upcoming The Tree of Life) has agreed to star in the Prohibition-Era-drama The Wettest County.  Chastain joins Shia LaBeouf and Tom Hardy as confirmed cast members in what will be John Hillcoat’s feature directorial follow-up to 2009′s The Road.  Per THR, Chastain will play Hardy’s love interest, a “a big city woman now living in a small town who at one time was mixed up with gangsters.”  The Wettest County is based on Matt Bondurant’s 2008 novel The Wettest County in the World: A Novel Based on a True Story in which Bondurant tells the story of his siblings and their bootlegging trials/tribulations in a purportedly dry Virginia.  Production on the film is currently aiming for a February 2011 start.