The story of bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde is a familiar one, brought most famously to the screen by Arthur Penn in 1967. But what of the Texas Rangers who tracked them down and delivered brutal, bullet-ridden justice? Their story is one that John Lee Hancock and Universal want to tell, and they’re hoping Liam Neeson and Woody Harrelson will be along for the ride in **Highwaymen.
The director and studio are teaming up with Media Rights Capital (which helped fund Ted) to back the film, based on John Fusco’s script.
Highwaymen will focus on lawman Frank Hamer (we’d guess that’s the role they want Neeson to play), who was asked in the 1930s by a consortium of banks to track down Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow. After the criminals organized a jailbreak and killed a guard, Hamer assembled a posse to stop them.
Neeson has been busy playing both heroes and villains recently. He’ll be seen in Non-Stop, Run All Night, A Walk Among The Tombstones and Third Person, and has also lent his tonsil talents to Khumba, The Nut Job and The Lego Movie.
Harrelson will next appear in magician heist thriller **Now You See Me **and returns as Haymitch Abernathy in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Assuming they both join Highwaymen, the film should kick off shooting early next year.