After more than a decade of directing for television, Ami Canaan Mann (Friday Night Lights, Morning) returns to feature films with the dark crime drama Texas Killing Fields.  The script was first commissioned a decade ago by her father, director Michael Mann (Heat, Public Enemies), who acts as producer here.  At one time director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 127 Hours) was attached to the film, but he backed out, stating that the film was too dark to ever get made.  The film stars Sam Worthington, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jessica Chastain, and Chloe Grace Moretz.  Hit the jump for my review of the Texas Killing Fields Blu-ray.

In Texas Killing Fields, actress Chloe Grace Moretz plays a local girl in a small Texas town, growing up with a drug addict mother, a loser brother, and no shortage of unsavory men hanging around. When she goes missing, Detective Souder (Sam Worthington) and Detective Heigh (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) find themselves racing against time to catch a sadistic serial killer, in order to save the young girl’s life.

For the film’s press day, Collider spoke to Chloe Grace Moretz, in both a roundtable and a phone interview, about the appeal of doing a role that was different from what she’s done before, how she got to go to a safe house to talk to former and current meth addicts for research, how freaked out she was that this story was inspired by true events, and how much she loved working with her co-stars, Sam Worthington and Jeffrey Dean Morgan. She also talked about the experience of being a part of Dark Shadows, how the dream of working with director Tim Burton far exceeded all of her expectations, that she hopes they’ll still eventually make a Kick-Ass sequel, how she is waiting for a finished script for the Emily the Strange movie, and that she has four or five projects already lined up for next year, and is just waiting to see which one goes first. Check out what she had to say after the jump.

In the espionage thriller The Debt , Rachel Singer is a Mossad agent in the 1960′s, who teams up with fellow agents Stephan (Marton Csokas) and David (Sam Worthington), to track down Nazi war criminal Dieter Vogel (Jesper Christensen), also known as the feared Surgeon of Birkenau. For that mission, she put herself at great risk and her heart on the line, not realizing that their actions would come back to haunt them over 30 years later.

At the film’s press day, actress Jessica Chastain talked about her four months of Krav Maga training for The Debt, how she studied Helen Mirren and worked with her on the backstory for the different ages of the character that they were playing, and just how uncomfortable the gynecological scenes were. She also talked about reuniting with Sam Worthington on Texas Killing Fields, what she loves about working with director Terrence Malick, her excitement over playing a character in a punk band in the Guillermo Del Toro-produced genre film Mama, and how she chooses projects based on the script and if it’s something she’s never done before. Check out what she had to say after the jump:

In the dramatic thriller The Debt, based on the Israeli film Ha-Hov, actor Sam Worthington plays David, a Mossad secret agent in the 1960′s who set out on a mission, with fellow agents Stephan (Marton Csokas) and Rachel (Jessica Chastain), to track down a Nazi war criminal. But, not everything goes as planned and, 30 years later, they all must face the truth.

At the film’s press day, Sam Worthington talked about how the director’s take on the material is what drew him to the project, how he enjoyed the Krav Maga training for the role, and how he balanced his performance with his co-stars. He also talked about how he’s not surprised that there’s a sequel for Clash of the Titans since it made a lot of money, how this one is a very different film, how he’s playing a surf photographer in Drift, and that he’d love to do multiple sequels for Avatar to keep working with Jim Cameron. Check out what he had to say after the jump:

We’ve got a couple new posters for you today. First up is the stunning first poster for My Week With Marilyn. Based on the memoirs of Lawrence Olivier’s assistant Colin Clark, the film details a week in the life of Marilyn Monroe. Michelle Williams stars as the titular Marilyn and she looks absolutely perfect in this stellar one-sheet. The film also stars Kenneth Branagh, Dominic Cooper, Judi Dench, Julia Ormond, Emma Watson, and Eddie Redmayne. My Week With Marilyn opens in limited release November 4^th.

Additionally, we have the first poster for the thriller Texas Killing Fields. Based on a true story, the film centers on the tracking of a sadistic serial killer who dumps his victims’ bodies in a Texas marsh. The impressive cast includes Sam Worthington, Jessica Chastain, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Jason Clarke, and Chloe Dean Moretz. The film also has a new release date, as Texas Killing Fields will open in select theaters October 14^th.

If you’re into true life murder mystery/thrillers, then you might want to check out the slick new trailer for Ami Canaan Mann’s long-delayed Texas Killing Fields. Starring Sam Worthington and Jeffrey Dean Morgan, the film concerns a small-town cop and a New York City detective who team up to capture a serial killer – one with a knack for disposing the bodies of his victims in a Texas marsh. I’ve been curious about Mann’s film since watching the Italian trailer a few weeks ago. Thankfully this new trailer is in English, and features a nice overall view of the story and characters. Plus it’s got the ever talented Chloe Moretz staring ominously into the camera. What’s not to like?

Texas Killing Fields also stars Jessica Chastain (The Help), Jason Clarke (Public Enemies) and Stephen Graham (Boardwalk Empire). The film is set to play in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival and will open on October 7.

Ami Canaan Mann’s Texas Killing Fields has been sitting on the shelf for a while but it looked like the movie was poised for a big push when it was announced that the thriller would be playing in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival.  The movie follows a New York City detective (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) who teams with a Texas cop (Sam Worthington) to hunt down a serial killer. However, TOH! reports that Anchor Bay will be releasing the movie on October 7th, less than two months from now, and there’s still no U.S. poster or trailer (click here to see the Italian trailer).  That can be done quickly but Anchor Bay almost never gives wide releases to their movies, I doubt anyone outside of Venice, New York, and Los Angeles will get to see Texas Killing Fields in theaters.

And if you think Anchor Bay has faith in the movie, it’s sharing the October 7th weekend with George Clooney’s The Ides of March, the Rocky-with-robots film Real Steel starring Hugh Jackman, and the new David Wain comedy Wanderlust starring Paul Rudd and Jennifer Aniston.  That’s like three Goliaths against one David if David were an infant armed only with an adorable smile.

The Italian trailer for Ami Canaan Mann’s dark thriller Texas Killing Fields (formerly titled The Fields) has gone online.  The film stars Sam Worthington as a small-town Texas cop who partners with a New York City detective (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) to hunt down a serial killer who dumps his victims’ bodies in a marsh known to the local as a the “killing fields”.  The investigation becomes even more intense when the killer kidnaps a young local girl (Chloe Moretz).  I couldn’t understand any of the dialogue since it’s dubbed in Italian, but the visuals look impressive especially when you consider that this is Mann’s debut feature.

Hit the jump to check out the trailer.  The film also stars Jessica Chastain (The Tree of Life), Jason Clarke (The Chicago Code), and Stephen Graham (Boardwalk Empire) Texas Killing Fields will be playing in competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival.

At this point in my life, the possibility I could go to the Venice Film Festival is about the same as me going to Mars.  However, this fall I would much prefer to go to Venice because Mars doesn’t have an amazing selection of films lined up for their film festival (at least not that I know of).  We already knew that George Clooney’s The Ides of March would be opening the festival but Variety has now confirmed some must-see films will be premiering in Venice as well.  Among the high-profile movies playing in competition are Roman Polanski’s Carnage, Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion, and David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method.

Hit the jump for the complete list of movies announced thus far for Venice and my speculation on what will be left to debut at Toronto.  The 2011 Venice Film Festival runs from August 31st through September 10th.

A couple of quick casting notes for you today.  First up, Al “Has-Been, Now-Screams” Pacino will be joining Channing Tatum in Son of No One. According to THR, the police thriller (I know Heat is good, but let us work through the trauma and remember 88 Minutes and Righteous Kill) “centers on a young cop (Tatum) who is assigned to a precinct in the working class neighborhood where he grew up, with an old secret surfacing and threatening to destroy his life and family.”  Pacino replaces De Niro (not really an improvement or step down) with Terrence Howard, Ray Liotta and Katie Holmes in various stages of negotiation.  Written and directed by Dito Montiel, the film would mark his third collaboration with Tatum after A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints and Fighting.

Hit the jump for better news about Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Sam Worthington teaming up to tell a more interesting story than just another cop drama.