Joe Carnahan to Direct SUGAR BANDITS

The Grey director Joe Carnahan is in talks to direct a big screen adaptation of Chuck Hogan's book Devils in Exile. The film will be called Sugar Bandits, and the author of the book also adapted the screenplay.

The story follows "an Iraq war vet named Neal Maven who is facing dead-end jobs and small futures in Boston. When he and some other soldiers team up in a scheme to rip off local drug dealers for profit, he soon finds his life in jeopardy. Doesn't help that he ends up sleeping with his employer's girlfriend, either."

This seems like a good project for Carnahan, who's also directed film like Smokin' Aces and The A-Team. His directing style should be a good fit for the adaptation. Hogan also wrote The Town, which Ben Affleck directed, as well as co-authored The Strain with Guillermo del Toro.  

Here's a description of the book:

Neal Maven comes home from his tour in Iraq to nothing—no job, no friends, no future. Then he meets Brad Royce, a fellow vet, charismatic and confident, with the lifestyle and the one woman Neal has always wanted: Danielle Vetti, Maven’s high-school dream girl. Royce offers Maven a spot on his team of vets who intercept major drug deals, take the dirty money, and destroy the product—an adrenaline-charged, get-rich scheme with a clear moral imperative. But is it too good to be true? With two psychotic hit men out for retaliation, a relentless DEA agent closing in, and more questions than answers about Royce, Maven suddenly finds he’s in too deep—and the truth may be his worst enemy.