LATEST NEWS

Casey Affleck Joins The Kind One Cast

by Alex Billington
February 6, 2008
Source: Variety

Ben Affleck's younger brother Casey Affleck has really turned into a powerhouse actor in the last year. His three big movies, Ocean's Thirteen, Gone Baby Gone, and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, featured three performances that showed me not only what Casey is truly capable of, but easily convinced me that he deserves the Oscar hands down. Now he's been cast in the next flick that I know he'll impress everyone in again, one called The Kind One, a period noir drama currently setup without a director.

The Kind One, set in the 1930s Los Angeles, is about an amnesiac named Danny Landon, played by Casey Affleck, who finds himself work for a mobster while also falling for the guy's girlfriend. The mobster who Affleck works for is the one with the nickname "the Kind One", an obvious sarcastic gesture given he's a "sadistic killer". The film is based on the just-published novel (pick up a copy on Amazon.com) of the same name by Tom Epperson. This is the first novel by Epperson, who is a long-time screenwriter that typically collaborates with his boyhood friend Billy Bob Thornton. Epperson will also be writing the script.

LA Times book critic Eric Miles Williamson examines the character and plot in his review. "[Danny] doesn't know who he is and he can't remember anything about his past. He's told he's a ruthless mobster and killer -- 'Two-Gun Danny' -- who once mowed down a shipload of people during a dramatic heist-at-sea, and that's why he's in a favored position in the gang. But he doesn't feel like that kind of person." And as for the plot, it's a bit of a harsh criticism, but at least it sheds a little light onto the novel's structure. "While Landon bumbles along in an amnesiac haze searching Oedipus-like for his true identity, the plot alternates between gangster scenes of violence and stupidity and Landon's home life at a small complex of bungalows."

Affleck previously was the lead in Gone Baby Gone, a modern day subtle noir and one of my favorite movies of last year. In fact, all three of Affleck's 2007 movies, Ocean's Thirteen, Gone Baby Gone, and The Assassination of Jesse James, are in my top 10 favorite movies of last year. It's no coincidence that Affleck happens to have a role in each of them. Although Hollywood tries to make Brad Pitt out as the lead actor in The Assassination of Jesse James, I think Affleck pulled off an even better and well-refined performance than Pitt. And what he later did in Gone Baby Gone was even more amazing, a character and a story in a movie that still hasn't left my mind.

This is Casey's only upcoming acting gig according to IMDb. I'm definitely already looking forward to it, but expect that opinion to change accordingly based on the director. However, I'm sure that Affleck will still deliver a great performance no matter who is directing, especially one that is comparably amazing as The Assassination of Jesse James. I'll be rooting for Casey come Oscars, although Javier Bardem will be a tough one to beat.

Filed under Casting, Movie News

From around the web: