While it has been five long years since legendary filmmaker William Friedkin‘s last film, the underrated psychological thriller “Bug” starring Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon, it seems the director has found a fresh voice and communal spirit in Tracy Letts. The playwright’s work served as the source material for “Bug” and Friedkin has once again found inspiration, turning Letts’ first play, the black comedy “Killer Joe,” into a feature length film.
Starring Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Thomas Haden Church, Juno Temple and Gina Gershon, the plot follows 22 year-old drug dealer Chris (Hirsch) who has his stash stolen by his mother, and has to come up with six thousand dollars quick or else he’s dead. Desperate, he turns to Killer Joe (McConaughey) when he finds out that his mother’s life insurance policy is worth $50,000. Although Joe usually demands cash up front, he finds himself willing to bend the rules in exchange for Chris’ attractive younger sister, Dottie (Temple), who will serve as sexual collateral until the money comes in. This first peek at the film is certainly promising, immediately introducing us to the players in the pic as the plan gets put into motion. It looks like another interesting choice for McConaughey who already had a big hit with “The Lincoln Lawyer” earlier this year and has Richard Linklater‘s “Bernie” around the corner. It’s been a while since we’ve seen Hirsch, but he looks fine as the determined Chris and the entire scene has a tense yet surreal quality to it that we’re looking forward to seeing more from.
There’s no firm release date yet, but don’t be too surprised if “Killer Joe” shows up on the fall festival circuit. Check out the full clip and a handful of pics from the film below.
