John Hillcoat May Follow ‘Wettest County’ With Megan Ellison-Financed Police Drama ‘Triple Nine’
In 2010, after the original incarnation ofJohn Hillcoat’sThe Wettest Countyhadcollapsed, the director was eyeing the Black List scriptTriple Nine, withShia LaBeoufattached to star. TheMatt Cookescript sounds like a taut cop/heist thriller, and as such a slight departure for Hillcoat — it would be a more overtly modern film, if nothing else, thanThe PropositionorThe Road, the movies for which he is best known.
ButThe Wettest County(then calledThe Promised Land)came back to lifethanks to the interest of Megan Ellison’s Annapurna Pictures, and the film is now complete and awaiting a releaselater this year. Now there is a minor suggestion — very minor — thatTriple Ninemay in the works once more with Hillcoat at the helm, and now housed at Annapurna.
The Playlistnoticed that the Annapurna site hasTriple Ninelisted as being in pre-production(or999as the website lists the movie), with a photo of Hillcoat next to the listing. It was thought that Hillcoat’s version of this one was dead, but then we thought thatThe Wettest Countywas dead, too, before it came back to life with a new cast assembled around Shia LaBeouf.
Speaking of Shia, we don’t know that he’s still a part of this one, either.Chris PineandJeff Bridgeswere also said to be attached at one point, but that info may be way out of date at this point.
Triple Nine/999is about “a group of crooked cops planning a major heist who realize they must shoot one of their own to get away with it. The lead character is an upstanding young officer who they choose as their victim.” Sounds like the basis for an excellent thriller, and I’d like to see Hillcoat work in that framework.
