THE KILLING's Mireille Enos Cast in DEVIL'S KNOTT
The Killing's Mireille Enos has officially joined the film production of Devil's Knott, which will tell the true story of the West Memphis Three. She joins Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth in the Atom Egoyan-directed drama. If you've seen The Killing, then you know how intense of an actress Enos is. She'll make a great addition to the cast.
According to Deadline, "Enos will play Vicki Hutcheson, the mother of an 8-year-old boy who lives in a run-down house in West Memphis. She becomes an important witness in the murder trial of Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley for the killing of three 8-year-old boys found hog-tied in a drainage ditch. Hutcheson, it becomes apparent to investigators, could be the only link between Echols and Misskelley."
It was previously reported that Firth would play Ron Lax, "a private investigator who was the first pro bono supporter of the defendents as they headed to trial in 1993. Lax built one of the most prominent private investigative firms in the Southeast, and offered his services for free to the defendants, who at the time were reviled because of the heinous nature of the crime and the sensationalized reports about devil worship and ritualistic sacrifice. All of that was later proven to be unfounded, after Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were convicted despite not a shred of physical evidence. Lax was an unsung hero and helped find the DNA in the knots that bound one of the victims, that cast suspicion on Terry Hobbs, the stepfather of Steven Branch, one of the 8-year old murdered boys. Witherspoon will play Pam Hobbs, the mother of Branch. She initially believed the trio murdered her son, is eventually persuaded that the three suspects are innocent and wrongly accused."
Back in 1993, Damien Echols, 36, Jason Baldwin, 34, and Jessie Misskelley, 36, were wrongly convicted for the May 1993 killings of three 8-year-old boys from West Memphis, Ark. After 18 years they were finally released from prison.
The screenplay for the film was written by Scott Derrickson and Paul Boardman (The Exorcism of Emily Rose), and the film is gearing up to start shoot this summer. The script is based on investigative reporter Mara Leveritt's 2003 book Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three.