Atom Egoyan is deep in pre-production for based-on-truth drama Devil’s Knot. He's slowly gathering cast members for a summer shoot and has just aded The Killing’s Mireille Enos to the lineup.
Egoyan is working from a script written by The Exorcism Of Emily Rose team of Scott Derrickson and Paul Boardman. The plot follows the real-life story of the West Memphis Three: Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, who were sent to prison despite a lack of evidence for the murder of three eight-year-old boys. The script itself was adapted from Mara Leveritt’s 2003 book Devil’s Knot: The True Story Of The West Memphis Three.
Colin Firth is starring as Ron Lax, a private investigator who became the trio’s first champion in 1993 when they were headed to trial. He offered his services for free at a time when the weight of public opinion was firmly against them. Reese Witherspoon is also aboard to play Pam Hobbs, the mother of one of the three boys killed, who initially thinks the men are responsible, but is eventually persuaded that they’re innocent. They finally won vindication and release from prison last year.
Enos will be Vicki Hutcheson, who becomes an important witness in the case and was a link between Echols and Misskelley. This is just the latest high profile job she’s scored: she’ll be seen in Gangster Squad, out here on November 9, and then World War Z, which breaks out on June 21, 2013.