Director David Lowery has gone from a micro-budget filmmaker to a surprise member of Disney’s arsenal, thanks both to his critically acclaimed Ain’t Them Bodies Saints and genre surprise Pete’s Dragon. Now, Lowery is reuniting with two actors from those films for his next feature The Old Man and the Gun, which will star Casey Affleck and Robert Redford. So, which is the old man and which is the gun?
The Old Man and the Gun is a crime thriller based on the true story of Forrest Tucker (Redford), a bank robber who broke out of prison a total of eighteen times over the course of an eventful life. The film will trace Tucker’s life from his breakout from San Quentin when he was 70 years old, through his many bank robberies. Affleck will oppose Redford as the investigator fascinated by Tucker’s abilities.
Affleck and Redford are certainly a great pairing and the story – based on a New Yorker article by David Grann – has tons of potential. It’s wonderful that a director like Lowery, whose career has been so unpredictable thus far, should get yet another fascinating tale to tell, with an equally fascinating cast. I do wonder though if we’re actually going to get to see Affleck and Redford on screen at the same time, given that these kinds of cat and mouse stories tend to pit the antagonists against each other without them ever actually meeting.
The two actors still have a lot on their plates before beginning work on The Old Man and the Gun. Affleck is set to appear in the miniseries Lewis and Clark, and Redford is currently at work on several projects that include The Discovery with Rooney Mara, and Come Sunday with Chiwetel Ejiofor and Danny Glover. As such, principle photography for The Old Man and the Gun is not set to begin until the spring of 2017.