Director Richard Kelly and Nicolas Cage are combining their talents in the upcoming production Amicus; a crime thriller based on a true story.
Cage is set to play Rodney Smolla, a First Amendment lawyer who wound up slap bang in the middle of a bizarre tale involving Lawrence Horn, a motown record producer who hired a hit man to off his family.
While at first the idea of Kelly and Cage committing to a straight-forward legal grappling sounds a bit dull, the plot twists as supplied by Variety in their synopsis suggest it will be anything but ordinary.
You can check out the full summary below:
“[Amicus] is based on the true story of Lawrence Horn, a former record producer and Motown Records exec who is currently serving a life sentence in prison for hiring Detroit-based hit man James Perry to murder his wife, quadriplegic son and the wealthy family’s overnight nurse at their suburban home in Silver Spring, Maryland. Horn’s son was the victim of medical malpractice and as the result of a subsequent lawsuit, had a trust worth nearly $2 million, which his father stood to inherit in the wake of his death.
Detectives discovered that Perry, who was sentenced to death in 1995 for the brutal crime, used how-to book “Hit Man: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors” as a guide to execute the murders. The families of the victims went on to file a class-action lawsuit against the Colorado-based publisher Paladin Press.
The attorneys representing the families then hired Smolla, a First Amendment attorney and professor at William & Mary Law School, to consult on the historic case, which took five years to settle amidst a series of shocking and bizarre developments.”
Since Richard Kelly delivered the genre bending Donnie Darko in 2001 his alternate reality take on teen angst proved very popular. His follow-up efforts, Southland Tales and The Box didn’t quite ignite the box office or the critics’ palates but scored maximum points on the what-the-bloody-hell-o-meter.
Similarly, Nicolas Cage has brandished an entire career out of oddball choices. Whether he channels the Bad Lieutenant or bites the head off a bat in this role, Amicus will most definitely warrant a viewing.
Filming on Amicus is set to commence this January in Atlanta. We’ll be sure to keep you posted as more news arises.
Do you think Cage and Kelly will make a cracking duo? Could this be the start of a beautiful friendship? Feel free to add your comments below.
Source: First Showing