Chances are you’ve seen director Matt Shakman‘s work before. From Six Feet Under to Mad Men to It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, he’s dabbled in TV production for the last decade. He’s now making his feature directorial debut and he’s wrangled a stellar ensemble, one that any helmer would certainly be happy to acquire.
Deadline reports that Armie Hammer, Ben Kingsley, John Malkovich, Michael Sheen and Teresa Palmer have all signed on to star in Cut Bank. The crime thriller, from Roberto Patino‘s Black List script, is set in Montana, and follows “Dwayne McLaren, a young auto mechanic and former high school football star who wants to get the hell out of this tiny town frozen in time. His attempt to do so sets in motion a series of events that will change his life, and the life of Cut Bank, forever.”
Director Edward Zwick (The Last Samurai, Blood Diamond) is set to produce the film, which seems to have a fairly generic premise, but with a cast like this it’s difficult to ignore. After Shakman’s experience with character-based storytelling in any number of television shows, here’s hoping he uses that here and adds a cinematic aesthetic.
Production is scheduled to kick off this fall for a likely 2013 release.