Joaquin Phoenix is in the mix to be part of Palme d’Or-winning French director Jacques Audiard’s The Sisters Brothers, according to Deadline. The film is set to be Audiard’s English language debut on film. The movie is an adaptation of Patrick deWitt’s Gold Rush novel about brothers Eli and Charlie Sisters, who are hired to kill prospector who has stolen from their boss in 1851 Oregon. Already confirmed in the cast is John C. Reilly, but no word on whom he or Phoenix will potentially play.
Audiard won Cannes’ top prize last year for Dheepan, about a Sri Lankan Tamil warrior who flees to France and ends up working as a caretaker outside Paris, only to find himself drawn back into a life of violence at a local housing project. His other credits include Rust and Bone (for which Marion Cotillard garnered a Globe nom), The Beat That My Heart Skipped, a remake of James Toback’s 1970s cult classic Fingers with Harvey Keitel, as well as crime drama Un Prophete.
Phoenix is no stranger to playing for prominent directors, having worked with Paul Thomas Anderson, Spike Jonze, and Ridley Scott amongst others. He is also in talks to play Jesus Christ in Garth Davis’ Mary Magdalene opposite Rooney Mara. Phoenix is set to star in Casey Affleck’s Far Bright Star as aging cavalryman Napoleon Childs, who leads a team of men to hunt down Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, only to find himself ambushed and left to survive in the desert.
The Sisters Brothers is being produced by Michael De Luca, Pascal Caucheteux, Rosa Attab, Alison Dickey and Reilly. No timetable is set for the project, but there will be updates as cast and crew is announced.
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