John Lee Hancock (The Founder, Saving Mr. Banks, The Blind Side) will direct Highwayman in a deal long in the works that now sees the lingering crime drama in development at its new home at Netflix. The project was initially brewing at Universal Pictures for four years with a script by John Fusco that has since been redone by Hancock.
The film, according to Deadline, is the long-awaited feature-length treatment of the Depression Era story told from the angle of Frank Hamer and Manny Gault as they led a posse of commissioned lawmen to bring an end to the infamous and deadly crime spree led by Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow in the 1930s. Actors Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson are in early talks to star in the respective roles of Hamer and Gault, the former known as a legendary Texas Ranger who survived 53 gunfights and killed 100 people.
Given the narrative, it's noticeably familiar-sounding ground for Costner who led the cast opposite Robert DeNiro's Al Capone in Brian De Palma's 1987 crime classic, The Untouchables. The actor's recent credits include Batman V. Superman: Dawn Of Justice, Criminal and Hidden Figures.
Harrelson's latest gig is currently stifled by the departner of its two directors in mid-production for the tentatively untitled Han Solo movie. He'll be seen this July in Matt Reeves's War For The Planet Of The Apes opposite Andy Serkis.
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