With Atom Egoyan at the helm, Devil’s Knot is setting up to shoot in Georgia within the next couple of weeks. The ranks of the cast have swelled considerably over the last month or so, with Amy Ryan and Chronicle’s Dane DeHaan now in early talks to join them.
The film follows the true story of the West Memphis Three – Jason Baldwin, Jessie Misskelley Jr and Damien Echols – who were found guilty of murdering three young boys. But private detective Ron Lax (to be played in the movie by Colin Firth) was among several people who found problems with the case, and in particular dug up DNA evidence linking Terry Hobbs (Alessandro Nivola) to material used to tie up one of the victims. The three defendants were released last year, though they still had to plead guilty.
Ryan is trying to clear space to play Lax’s wife, who divorces him as he dives into the case. DeHaan is circling the role of a teenager who had some history with the murder victims. But he’s confronting more than just the usual work schedules: he’ll have to factor in his real-life wedding, which we imagine takes precedence…
If they sign on, they’ll be appearing alongside Firth, Nivola, Reese Witherspoon, Mireille Enos, Kristopher Higgins, Collette Wolfe and Kris Polaha.