Jacques Audiard, director of such festival favorites as The Beat That My Heart Skipped, Rust and Bone and A Prophet, is saddling up for his English-language debut with The Sisters Brothers, and The Hollywood Reporter now brings word that John C. Reilly is attached to star in the drama.
Adapted from Patrick deWitt’s novel of the same name, the project will unfold around Eli and Charlie Sisters, two highly-skilled hitmen on the hunt of a priceless prospector that has been stolen from their boss. A western at heart, Audiard’s latest has our attention based purely on the director’s résumé alone. After all, his acclaimed Parisian drama Dheepan won the coveted Palme d’Or award during Cannes earlier this year, and we’re excited to see how the filmmaker tackles his maiden English-language film.
Having optioned the award-winning novel along with his production company, Reilly is likely to assume the role of either Eli or Charlie, as the pair live out the decadent era of the American Gold Rush in the mid 1800s. With deWitt’s novel taking place across the likes of Oregon and California, there’s a tremendous amount of potential simmering beneath the surface of The Sisters Brothers, and all the production needs now is for another star to fill the role of the other sibling starring opposite Reilly in the final feature.
Given that Jacques Audiard has been working on the script for nigh on two years, we expect it won’t be too long before The Sisters Brothers steps in front of the cameras. For now, here’s a brief synopsis of deWitt’s novel.
Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die. The enigmatic and powerful man known only as the Commodore has ordered it, and his henchmen, Eli and Charlie Sisters, will make sure of it. Though Eli doesn’t share his brother’s appetite for whiskey and killing, he’s never known anything else. But their prey isn’t an easy mark, and on the road from Oregon City to Warm’s gold-mining claim outside Sacramento, Eli begins to question what he does for a living–and whom he does it for.