Matthew McConaughey and Rip Torn are joining Jack Black and Shirley MacLaine in Bernie, the dark comedy being directed by Richard Linklater, says The Hollywood Reporter.
The film, based on the true story of Berhardt “Bernie” Tiede, features Jack Black as a mortician who becomes companion to an 81 year old widow, Marjorie Nugent (MacLaine). Tiede was convicted of shooting Nugent in 1996 and hiding her body in a freezer for nine months, pretending as though she was still alive.
McConaughey will play the town’s district attorney, always angling for re-election and suspicious about the widow’s death. Torn will play Bernie’s defense lawyer.
The movie starts shooting next month in Texas.
