As Voltage Pictures continues shopping Robert Redford’s upcoming drama The Company You Keep to potential buyers at the Toronto International Film Festival, word has reached us that the director is filling out his cast with reliable character actors.
Stanley Tucci and Chris Cooper are the latest names added to Redford’s impressive ensemble, according to Screen Daily. Redford’s set to direct and star in the politically bent adaptation of Neil Gordon’s novel, which centers around formers members of the radical group Weather Underground who are discovered by a young journalist (Shia LaBeouf) and forced to go on the run. Tucci and Cooper join previously cast icons like Susan Sarandon, Julie Christie, Richard Jenkins and Nick Nolte in the film. Brit Marling, star of Another Earth and the upcoming The Sound of My Voice also has been cast by Redford in a supporting role.
Wow. It’s ironic that we just recently ran a feature on top-notch ensembles on the site, because I’d like to add Redford’s Company cast to the list sight unseen. This is an impressive gathering of talents, and if screenwriter Lem Dobbs can develop each character and create some tensions in his screenplay, we could be in for something special. Then again, Redford was working with such high-powered talents as Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep in the 2007 drama Lions for Lambs, and that stodgy message picture was as flat as a pancake. We can only hope Redford learned a few lessons from the misfire and puts his stellar cast to good use in Company, which sounds like it could be great.
