In November of last year we ran a story about Brad Pitt and Andrew Dominik shopping around an adaptation of George V. Higgin’s Cogan’s Trade, which would see Pitt re-teaming with his Jesse James director for a new mob film. At the time, Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell were also in talks to be a part of the project. Good news on all fronts- The Weinsteins have picked up the film based on a large $20m P&A (prints and advertising) agreement, Affleck and Rockwell seem to be fully attached, and James Gandolfini is even rumored to be circling a role.  So essentially we have a contractual guarantee that the film won’t be unceremoniously dumped, that the great director and cast responsible for one of the best films of 2007 will be back together, and there might be some great new blood brought aboard with serious mobster cred. Excellent.

If you don’t recall, Cogan’s Trade is about a mob-affiliated enforcer who investigates a high-level poker game that’s knocked over despite being protected by the mafia. It’s characterized as a “comedic thriller,” and there’s no word if the previously rumored Mark Ruffalo or Javier Bardem still have any involvement.

Regardless, this will surely arouse excitement from any chewer who was as awed by The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford as I know many of us were. This new film may not be of that same deadly-serious, melancholy tone, but all of these players tend to do as well in a comedic environment as they do in a dramatic one, so I’ll be eagerly awaiting more developments from this one.

Source | Deadline

DISCUSS THIS on the CHUD Message Board