Colin Firth has joined the cast of Atom Egoyan’s The Devil’s Knot, Deadline reports. He’ll star opposite the previously announced Reese Witherspoon in the narrative take on the West Memphis Three.
Released from prison earlier this year after nearly two decades, Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. and Jason Baldwin were convicted of the murder of three eight-year-old boys in 1993. Their trial was the subject of the Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky documentary, Paradise Lost that brought national media attention to the trial and its outcome. Believing the conviction to be in error, Berlinger and Sinofsky fought for the release of the three with a sequel, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations. A third film, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, has incorporated details of the recent release and is currently touring festivals while an alternate documentary from Amy Berg, West of Memphis just screened at Sundance.
Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter, Chloe) is basing his take off the book “Devils Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three” by Mara Leveritt.
In the narrative version, Witherspoon will play Pam Hobbs, the mother of one of the original victims while Firth will star as Ron Lax, a private investigator called in for the case.
(Photo Credit: WENN.com)
