HBO's Luck may have run its course, but Nick Nolte's good fortune continues. This year began with Nolte scoring his third Oscar nomination—this one for the sibling rivalry drama Warrior—and he has since wrapped on the Jason Statham-fronted thriller Parker, the Robert Redford-directed thriller The Company You Keep, and Ruben Fleischer's much-anticipated crime drama The Gangster Squad. Now Variety reports Nolte has entered into negotiations to star in the drama Bitterroot, which will be the feature debut of music video director Chris Milk.
Milk, who directed music videos for Gnarls Barkley, Kanye West, and Arcade Fire (to name a few), has shown a strong visual sense and a remarkable ability to quickly establish mood in his work thus far. It'll be interesting to see how his music video sensibilities will feed into Bitterroot. The Black List script from Michael Gilio centers on an over-the-hill Montana rancher who loses his life savings in a bank scam. When he's can't find someone at hand to hold accountable, he mounts up with his guns and heads to Bitterroot to get his money back. Nolte is in talks to play this rancher.
Check out a version of the Milk-directed Arcade Fire video "We Used to Wait" below, and experience your own unique version--set where you live--here
From the plot description, there's nothing flashy here like a CGI heart belting out its fears, or an awe-striking interactive interface, or 'Evel Knievel-styled Kanye. Instead, this seems like a Western complete with a grim journey that's likely to have—at best—a bittersweet ending. Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying Milk seems like a bad fit from the material, far from it. I think he's a compelling choice that gives Bitterroot an alluring element of mystery.
Gore Verbinski, who will produce, has been trying to bring Bitterroot to fruition for a while now, and had originally been lined up to helm it for Universal. That deal has since fallen apart and now Annapurna Pictures, which produced John Hillcoat's Lawless, is fully financing this feature. Of course, Verbinski too is known for a vibrant visual flair, so maybe there's more to Bitterroot than its logline lets on. With casting in the works, hopefully the drama will lens this year, and offer some enticing insight into what it has in store.
