Tom Hardy and Michael Shannon are, hands down, two of the finest actors of their generation. Hardy is of course currently in theatres now in the summer’s biggest and best blockbuster, The Dark Knight Rises, and Shannon will be doing the same next summer in Zack Snyder’s Man of Steel.
Variety report that the two are now attached to star opposite each other in The Long Red Road, a feature adaptation of the original play of the same name by Brett C. Leonard.
The play premiered at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago back in 2010, with Hardy in the lead as Sam, under the direction of the brilliant Philip Seymour Hoffman. As yet, it’s not clear whether Hoffman will return to direct the adaptation, but the project would be that much more amazing if he does.
Hardy will be reprising his role as Sam, with Shannon signing on to play Hardy’s older brother. Courtesy of the Goodman Theatre, here’s the original play’s synopsis:
“A devastating new play about the impact of addiction, The Long Red Road introduced audiences to Sammy, who has fled his past and landed in South Dakota, where he is slowly drinking himself to death. When his young daughter arrives desperate to reunite with her father, he must decide between the self-hatred that consumes him and the responsibilities he’s tried to leave behind.”
Leonard, whose credits also include writing HBO’s Hung, will be adapting the screenplay himself, and here’s to hoping we’ll have news of who will be in the director’s chair soon.
Hardy is currently on the big screen in The Dark Knight Rises, and will be returning once more in just a few weeks’ time opposite Shia LaBeouf in Lawless.
Shannon will be reprising his role in the new season of Boardwalk Empire, and will next be seen on the big screen opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt in Premium Rush. He’ll also be heading to TIFF in The Iceman next month, and stars opposite Matthew McConaughey and Reese Witherspoon in the Oscar-tipped Mud, which will hopefully be out towards the end of this year.
