O Brother, Where Art Thou?’s Tim Blake Nelson is pretty familiar with actors stepping behind the camera. He’s gone behind the lens on several occasions himself, most notably for 2010’s wonderful Leaves Of Grass, and now, he’s signed up to help two of his fellow actors work on their own directorial projects.
The first of the two films is being directed by James Franco, and it is entitled Bukowski. It’ll follow the title author/ post office employee/ drunk/ madman, Charles Bukowski, through his traumatic childhood and high school years. Nelson will play the writer’s abusive father who continually gets into physical altercations with his son.
The second of the two films comes from Tommy Lee Jones, and it’s entitled Homesman. The current Oscar nominee will direct from a script he co-wrote. The action centers around a shady character and a cheap school teacher who concoct a scheme to transport three women over the Western plains in an ox-drawn wagon. Nelson will play a thief looking to pilfer one of the females, which is a key way in which the script seems to separate itself from the beloved children’s game Oregon Trail.
Nelson has served as a ringer in many a movie. The noted character actor has a way of swooping in and stealing scenes, and if these two directors are lucky, he’ll deliver exactly on that reputation.
Both efforts are set to shoot in the next few months. Neither has a release date yet, but given the time frame, they likely won’t be out until very late 2013, or more likely, early in 2014. Until then, try not to die of dysentery.
