Though MGM was underwhelmed by David Fincher's The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo—reducing it to a "modest loss" —the thriller was heralded by critics blown away by Rooney Mara Oscar-nominated turn as the incomparable Lisbeth Salander. Since then, major filmmakers have been lining up to work with the fast-rising starlet, including Terrence Malick, Steven Soderbergh, and Spike Jonze. Basically, Mara has her pick of projects for the foreseeable future, so it speaks well of the upcoming Ain’t Them Bodies Saints that she is now attached to star.
Deadline reports that Mara, Ben Foster and Casey Affleck are all presently circling the project which is said to be a contemporary crime drama in the vein of Bonnie and Clyde. Whether that means a pair of crooks who have a twisted love life that binds them together through their exploits, or that it's meant to shake up our expectations of the genre (or both) remains to be seen as no further plot details or even vague character descriptions are being released at this time.
Nonetheless, this film is already looking pretty good on paper—well—aside from its awkward title. Of course, the aforementioned, attached talented trio bodes well for Ain't's execution, but so does it's writer-director David Lowery, who garnered buzz last year with his short film Pioneer, which went on to win the Grand Jury Award at SXSW. The celebrated storyteller developed the screenplay for Ain’t Them Bodies Saintswithin the illustrious Sundance Writers Lab. And now it seems the script is ready to roll with casting kicking off and financing being lined up. Yet what's most enticing about this proposed production is not just the combined screen presence and performance savvy of Mara, Foster and Affleck, but the fearlessness of these three who have each been known to take on incredibly risky material for better or worse. It may not guarantee Ain’t Them Bodies Saints will be as groundbreaking as Bonnie and Clyde, but it does promise to be intriguing.
