I love westerns and I love Peter Dinklage, so this could pretty much be the perfect combo. I'm even sidestepping my usual misgivings about posting about "development" status (i.e. - this thing could very well still not happen) because this new film, The Thicket, sounds like it could be a lot of fun.
It's based on a novel by Joe Anderson and will be produced by Gianni Nunnari (Seven, The Departed, 300) under his Hollywood Gang shingle. Dinklage and his manager David Ginsberg will co-produce along with Nunnari's partner Shannon Gaulding. There's no word on a director yet, but it could excel in the right hands. Hit the jump for more on Peter Dinklage in The Thicket.
Dinklage's character is called "Shorty" and on first glance bears more than a passing resemblance to his character Tyrion Lannister in Game of Thrones (at least how Tyrion behaved in the beginning of the first season).
Here's the official synopsis:
THE THICKET has been hailed as one of the best American crime novels to emerge in recent years. Set in tough, turbulent and feral East Texas in the early 20th century, this dark thriller follows the story of Jack, an innocent young man, who goes on an epic quest to rescue his sister after she has been kidnapped by a violent killer, Cut Throat Bill, and his gang. Jack enlists the help of a crafty bounty hunter named Shorty (Dinklage), a grave-digging alcoholic son of an ex-slave, and a street-smart prostitute. Together they track the girl into the deadly no-man's land known as The Big Thicket - a place where blood and chaos reign.
Dinklage himself says the project is, "completely original. The characters and the world they inhabit jumped from the pages for me in such a cinematic way." To me this sounds like a pulpier version of a Cormac McCarthy novel, something I can totally get behind.
