No More PROMISED LAND For Hillcoat

I was looking forward to John Hillcoat‘s next project THE PROMISED LAND because he did Cormac McCarthy‘s book justice with the beautiful adaptation of The Road. On top of that, THE PROMISED LAND has attracted A-list names like Shia LaBeouf, Scarlett Johansson, Ryan Gosling, Paul Dano, Amy Adams and Michael Shannon. But alas, this adaptation of THE WETTEST COUNTY IN THE WORLD based on a true story novel by Matt Bondurant will not see the light of day…

Hillcoat himself said, via Telegraph, the reason why this project is now dead

“The joke on set and in the edit suite was that we had to get ["The Road"] out before it became a reality. Ironically, the movie industry itself now faces its own apocalypse. The perfect storm has arrived in Hollywood: a global economic downturn combined with piracy and the increase of downloading on the internet – what happened to the record companies years ago but with much higher stakes. The reactionary first phase has kicked in – few films in development, many films put on hold or shut down.

“My own new project – with a much-loved script by Nick Cave and a dream all-star cast – has fallen apart. The finance company that we began The Road with has also fallen apart, having to radically downsize to one remaining staff member. The great divide has begun, with only very low-budget films being made or huge 3-D franchise films – the birth of brand films such as Barbie, Monopoly: The Movie – who knows what’s next, Coca-Cola: The Movie?”

what a shame! If only there was a solution to this problem. But it seems like Hillcoat is letting the certain unfortunate trend that’s been happening around him as a sign of defeat. On the other hand, well-established financing is imperative for any project to survive. Do you agree with Hillcoat’s rather discouraging statement?

Here’s the official synopsis of the book…
“Based on the true story of Matt Bondurant’s grandfather and two granduncles, The Wettest County in the World is a gripping tale of brotherhood, greed, and murder. The Bondurant Boys were a notorious gang of roughnecks and moonshiners who ran liquor through Franklin County, Virginia, during Prohibition and in the years after. Forrest, the eldest brother, is fierce, mythically indestructible, and the consummate businessman; Howard, the middle brother, is an ox of a man besieged by the horrors he witnessed in the Great War; and Jack, the youngest, has a taste for luxury and a dream to get out of Franklin. Driven and haunted, these men forge a business, fall in love, and struggle to stay afloat as they watch their family die, their father’s business fail, and the world they know crumble beneath the Depression and drought.

White mule, white lightning, firewater, popskull, wild cat, stump whiskey, or rotgut — whatever you called it, Franklin County was awash in moonshine in the 1920s. When Sherwood Anderson, the journalist and author of Winesburg, Ohio, was covering a story there, he christened it the “wettest county in the world.” In the twilight of his career, Anderson finds himself driving along dusty red roads trying to find the Bondurant brothers, piece together the clues linking them to “The Great Franklin County Moonshine Conspiracy,” and break open the silence that shrouds Franklin County.

In vivid, muscular prose, Matt Bondurant brings these men — their dark deeds, their long silences, their deep desires — to life. His understanding of the passion, violence, and desperation at the center of this world is both heartbreaking and magnificent.”