Tell No One actor-director Guillaume Canet is stepping back behind the camera for his latest film, ‘70s-set crime thriller Blood Ties. But even though he already had Marion Cotillard on board to star (well, she *is *Mrs Guillaume Canet so it was an easy ask, we suspect), he’s had some trouble locking in the rest of his leads. All that has since changed as Clive Owen, Mila Kunis and Billy Crudup are now in place.
Canet adapted the screenplay from French novel Les liens du sang, working alongside **We Own The Night **writer-director James Gray.
It’s not tough to see why he might choose to collaborate with a man who has experience writing about criminal siblings: Ties finds Crudup's character persuading his convict older brother (Owen) to dip back into the underworld in order to help the family. Cotillard and Kunis, meanwhile, will be the brothers' love interests.
Canet previously had both Mark Wahlberg and Zoe Saldana circling roles, but delays with the project have seen them both move on. He’s still locking down the finances, but if it all works out, he’ll start shooting next month in New York.
Owen was last seen in Intruders and has Shadow Dancer set for release in September. Crudup is part of the cast of Ben Stiller / Vince Vaughn action comedy Neighbourhood Watch, which arrives on August 29.