Here is a pair of director stories for you to check out:
- Peter Landesman (Parkland) is attached to rewrite and direct Down by the River, a revenge thriller inspired by Charles Bowden's non-fiction book about the murder of the younger brother of a DEA official and undercover agent by a Mexican drug cartel.
- Kim Jee-woon (The Last Stand) is now attached to direct an adaptation of Ed Brubaker's graphic novel, Coward.
Hit the jump for more on each movie.
Deadline reports that Landesman will rewrite and direct Down by the River. The story centers on "the younger brother of a high level DEA official and former undercover agent [who] is murdered in broad daylight in El Paso, Texas. After discovering the hit was ordered by the drug kingpin across the river in Juarez, Mexico, possibly as retribution for the agent’s past actions, the DEA official heads across the border for some big time revenge. Not only against the killers, but the DEA as well." Landesman's JFK assassination picture Parkland opens in theaters this weekend, and he'll follow that up with Kill the Messenger in 2014.
In Landesman's words, he called the source material:
“haunting and epic, it winds and digs deep into the grey zone of the US/Mexican border. We are using the true story chronicled in this book as a launching point, and the facts are like a punch in the gut. DEA agent Phil Jordan is a deeply compelling and complex cinematic character — courageous, brilliant, enraged, unstoppable. The desire to make this film for me is like a compulsion, and it’s great to be working with Scott [Stuber] again.”
When last we spoke on Coward, David Slade was attached to direct. Now it looks as if Kim Jee-woon will have that honor. Brubaker himself talked about his excitement over the development in an email to MTV, and Variety initially reported on the director's attachment. "Coward is the first book in Brubaker’s Criminal graphic novel series and an Eisner Award winner for best new series. Brubaker adapted the screenplay, which takes place in a universe of hustlers, crooked cops, pickpockets and other lowlifes. The story centers on a second-generation heist planner who can be relied on to have a bulletproof exit plan."