Andrew Dominik’s next film, Cogan’s Trade, is one that we’ve been looking forward to for some time now. We got our first look at Brad Pitt as the lead back in May last year, and then last month came our first look at some of the rest of the fantastic cast, which includes Scoot McNairy, James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, and Bella Heathcote.
Word now comes from Variety’s Jeff Sneider, via The Playlist, that the film has been re-titled Killing Them Softly. No word on exactly why, given that Dominik has adapted the 1974 novel, Cogan’s Trade, by George V. Higgins. It could be that The Weinstein Company felt that a Brad Pitt film with ‘killing’ in the title would be an even easier sell, and make word-of-mouth that much more powerful.
Because this is definitely a film that people will be talking about.
No official synopsis for the film yet, but here’s the original novel’s, courtesy of Amazon:
“[Cogan’s Trade] tracks Jackie Cogan’s career in a gangland version of law and order. For Cogan is an enforcer; and when the Mob’s rules get broken, he gets hired to ply his trade — murder. In the gritty, tough-talking pages of Higgins’s 1974 national best-seller, Cogan is called in when a high-stake card game under the protection of the Mob is heisted. Expertly, with a ruthless businessman’s efficiency, a shrewd sense of other people’s weaknesses, and a style as cold as his stare, Cogan moves with reliable precision to restore the status quo as ill-conceived capers and double-dealing shenanigans erupt into high-voltage violence.”
The Weinstein Company announced last month that they’ve set the release date for 21st September in the US, which is also when we’ll be getting it here in the UK, which is excellent news. That date makes it a possible contender for getting its debut at either Venice Film Festival or Toronto International Film Festival later this year.
Whilst I personally preferred the title Cogan’s Trade (and I think many would too), Killing Them Softly isn’t without its benefits too, and with the cast looking like it does, and with Pitt reuniting with Dominik after The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, I was always going to be watching this in the cinema no matter what it was called. And I hope you’ll be joining me, because it really does sound like it’s going to be one of the best films 2012 has to offer.
