Variety reports that The Long Red Road, a 2010 play written by Brett C. Leonard, will be getting the big screen treatment courtesy of a new production company called Whiplash. First brought to the stage in 2010 in Chicago, IL by director Philip Seymour Hoffman (yes, that one), The Long Red Road tells the story of Sam, a man who flees his home to live on an Indian reservation in South Dakota with the intent on drinking himself to death. That plan gets interrupted by his young daughter, who shows up one day on the reservation looking to reunite with Sam.

The Dark Knight Rises star Tom Hardy, who originated the role of Sam in the original 2010 run, has signed on to reprise his role while Michael Shannon has also signed on to play Sam’s older brother Bob, who ties in very much with the horrible past Sam is running away from. Leonard will be tasked with adapting his own work into a screenplay. And although Hoffman directed The Long Red Road on the stage, there’s no word if he’d be up for directing the movie adaptation as well.

Having read some of the reviews of The Long Red Road, this one sounds like a very bleak story steeped in misery. It could certainly be a welcome adult drama that could win big come awards season. This is a genre people seem scared to make now that superheroes and other PG-13 franchises dominate the box office, so it’s refreshing when something like this moves forward. The Long Red Road might be we all might be talking about in a few years time, so keep an eye out on its development. And that lead team-up couldn’t get any better.

Have you seen the play version of The Long Red Road? Do you think it will translate to the big screen or will it still feel like a play?