Paul Schrader is rounding up what he needs to make his next drama, albeit one he's been trying to get off the ground for a few decades. The director (who also wrote the script) has Ethan Hawke and Amanda Seyfried on board for First Reformed.
The story will see Hawke as a former military chaplain who is grieving the loss of his son, a soldier killed in combat. Turning to a local church for support, he befriends Seyfried's parishioner and her radical environmentalist husband. But things turn sour when he discovers corruption at the house of worship and beyond.
"First Reformed is a script I’ve been moving toward for almost fifty years," says Schrader, who is at the Toronto International Film Festival with his latest, Dog Eat Dog (out here on November 11). "Ethan Hawke’s image appeared to me while I was writing and he responded days after reading the script. Now we are delighted to be able to add Amanda Seyfried. These are unique performers with a special charisma."
Killer Films is producing the movie and Arclight has stumped up the financing. The producers will be selling distribution rights to the film at Toronto.
Hawke will crop up next in The Magnificent Seven, landing here on the 23rd of this month. Seyfried has a role in the new Twin Peaks, which is set to hit TV screens next year.