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Speaking on radio station RTL on Monday morning to promote his Palme d’Or-winning immigrant thriller Dheepan, French auteur Jacques Audiard announced that his next project will be an English-language Western starring Oscar-nominated actor John C. Reilly.
Adapted from the 2011 novel The Sisters Brothers by Canadian writer Patrick deWitt, the film will tell the story of two brothers hired to murder a prospector during the California Gold Rush. They travel from Oregon City to San Francisco, only to find out that the man they’ve been sent to kill may have something better to offer. The book has received numerous awards in Canada and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.
Audiard told RTL that the film’s themes are similar to those of his latest feature, Dheepan, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last May and was awarded the Palme d’Or. (Sundance Selects has picked up the film for U.S. distribution.) Audiard previously received the Grand Prix in Cannes for his gritty 2009 prison crime drama, A Prophet, starring Tahar Rahim.
This will be the 63-year-old French director’s first project in English, and his first time collaborating with Hollywood talent. Reilly, however, already played a supporting role in another recent French Western: Les Cowboys, which was directed by Audiard’s regular co-writer Thomas Bidegain, and will make its North American premiere at the upcoming New York Film Festival.
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