Joaquin Phoenix And Casey Affleck Reteam For Western ‘Far Bright Star’

Joaquin Phoenix And Casey Affleck Reteam For Western 'Far Bright Star'

By Kevin Jagernauth

Joaquin Phoenix And Casey Affleck Reteam Western 'Far Bright Star'

Kevin Jagernauth

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November 18, 2015 2:24 pm

While Joaquin Phoenix‘s “meltdown” proved to be a distraction and was widely misunderstood, the quasi-documentary “I’m Still Here” is an absolutely hilarious observation of the relationship between the public, media and celebrity in which Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix display a spirited collaboration, which makes the prospect of their next project all the more enticing.

The duo will reteam for an adaptation of Robert Olmstead‘s novel “Far Bright Star” —Affleck will direct and Phoenix will star. Damien Ober has penned a script that will detail the story of a group of soldiers as they embark on the hunt for Pancho Villa. Here’s the book synopsis:

The year is 1916. The enemy, Pancho Villa, is elusive. Terrain is unforgiving. Through the mountains and across the long dry stretches of Mexico, Napoleon Childs, an aging cavalryman, leads an expedition of inexperienced horse soldiers on seemingly fruitless searches. Though he is seasoned at such missions, things go terribly wrong, and his patrol is suddenly at the mercy of an enemy intent on their destruction. After witnessing the demise of his troops, Napoleon is left by his captors to die in the desert.

Through him we enter the conflicted mind of a warrior as he tries to survive against all odds, as he seeks to make sense of a lifetime of senseless wars and to reckon with the reasons a man would choose a life on the battlefield. Olmstead, an award-winning writer, has created a tightly wound novel that is as moving as it is terrifying.

Sounds like it will follow in the footsteps of western survival genre that “The Revenant” seems to be reviving, but with its own historical flavor. No word yet on when it might shoot, but promising stuff nonetheless. [THR]