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William Friedkin Makes Matthew McConaughey His 'Killer Joe'
by Ethan Anderton
September 13, 2010
In the last decade of his career, once celebrated director William Friedkin (best known for The Exorcist, The French Connection, Sorcerer) has been mostly uneventful. From that military drama misfire Rules of Engagement in 2000 to his most recent thriller attempt with Bug in '06, there's not that much to celebrate. Since his most recent directing job had him helming a couple episodes of "CSI" (gross!), hopefully it's good news to have him returning to features as THR reports the filmmaker will direct Killer Joe, a black comedy featuring Matthew McConaughey playing the title character, a hybrid man of the law and contract killer.
The story itself will see Emile Hirsch (Speed Racer, Into the Wild, The Darkest Hour) playing a brother who, along with his sister, plot the death of their mother for insurance money and hire "Killer Joe" Cooper to get the job done. Sounds moderately entertaining, and while McConaughey doesn't inspire much faith in a project these days, Hirsch picks them carefully and that's good enough for me. If anyone wants to mention Speed Racer as a misstep, I believe you are sorely mistaken as I loved that film with both the adult and child parts of my heart. It'd be nice to see Friedkin get some street cred again and teaming with Voltage Pictures (the company behind The Hurt Locker) isn't a bad way to start. We'll see how this turns out. Interested?
3 Comments
1
Saw Killer Joe on stage awhile back, written by the same writer as Bug; it's a decent story ... though both belong on the stage and not on screen imo.
J on Sep 13, 2010
2
Friedkin must really be in serious trouble is Matthew McConaughey is the best he can come up with as a lead for any movie. Unfortunately, it's time for Friedkin to toss in the towel and spend the rest of his life thinking about his few glory days of the early 70's.
Hattori Hanzo on Sep 13, 2010
3
William Friedkin has some seriously 1980's earrings in that picture.
dRailer on Sep 14, 2010
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