The Samuel L. Jackson neo-noir thriller Lie Down With Darkness has been retitled The Samaritan and is set to go into production immediately with Luke Kirby and Ruth Negga also joining the cast.
Originally slated to star Dominic Cooper as well, the project appears to now be moving forward without him. To be helmed by Canadian director David Weaver, The Samaritan‘s official description is as follows:
After twenty long years in prison, Foley is finally ready to put the grifters life behind him. When he falls for an elusive and troubled young woman named Iris, a new beginning seems within his reach. But his past is not ready to let him go. Ethan, the son of his former partner, has the perfect plan and he wants Foley in on it. The con used to be a gentlemans game but the rules have changed.
Trying to start over, Foley lets his guard down, a luxury it turns out he cannot afford. The harder he tries to escape his past, the deeper he is ensnared in Ethans web of secrets and lies, until it is all too clear there can be no turning back.
Jackson will play Foley with Negga appearing as Iris and Kirby as Ethan. Weaver makes the following statement about the project in the official press release:
“The films that have particularly inspired me as a director over the years, such as Mona Lisa, The Crying Game, or later on, Sexy Beast and Memento, have had such a huge influence because they blended the conventions of the American genre film with a singular daring
in their approach to their subject matter.
I intend [The Samaritan] to be firmly within that tradition. At the center of the film are Foley and Ethan. A master grifter, Foleys world has always been built on a series of carefully-crafted illusions that only he can see behind. Of course, its an irresistible story idea to take such a character, have him decide to go straight, but then gradually reveal hes been surrounded from the very beginning by a scam so devious that its entirely beyond his imagining.”
The Samaritan will go into production shortly with a release date still unannounced.
