The Promised Land Shuts Down

John Hillcoat's latest hits finance snag

The Promised Land Shuts Down

by James White |
Published on

Bad news for anyone who follows the work of The Proposition's director John Hillcoat - his adaptation of Mat Bondurant's novel **The Wettest Country In The World **has fallen apart, despite securing a cast that was to include Shia LaBeouf and Ryan Gosling.

As part of his lengthy - and well worth reading - production diary for his latest effort The Road in The Telegraph, Hillcoat broke the news that The Promised Land, which would have brought the novel to the screen via a Nick Cave script and the aforementioned talent, is not happening just yet.

"My own new project – with a much-loved script by Nick Cave and a dream all-star cast – has fallen apart. The finance company that we began The Road with has also fallen apart, having to radically downsize to one remaining staff member.

"The great divide has begun, with only very low-budget films being made or huge 3-D franchise films – the birth of brand films such as Barbie, Monopoly: The Movie – who knows what’s next, Coca-Cola: The Movie?"

Sad, then, but not entirely unexpected since The Road hasn't exactly fared well at the US box office and Wettest Country, the tale of prohibition-breaking brothers, isn't the easiest sell...

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