Jennifer Carpenter Joins BONE TOMAHAWK Director's New Film BRAWL IN CELL BLOCK 99

Last year's brutal cannibal western Bone Tomahawk was surprisingly my favorite film of the year (I'm not normally into cannibal westerns, but this is an outstanding movie), so I'm super excited to see what writer/director S. Craig Zahler does with his follow-up film. He's lined up a new movie called Brawl in Cell Block 99 with Vince Vaughn set to star, and you can read the synopsis here:

Zahler's script centers on a former boxer (Vaughn) whose life is crumbling: He loses his job as an auto mechanic and his troubled marriage is about to expire. At this crossroads in his life, he feels that he has no better option than to work for an old buddy as a drug courier. This vocation improves his situation until the day he finds himself in a gunfight between a group of police officers and his own ruthless allies. When the smoke clears, the man finds himself in prison in a no-win situation as his enemies force him to commit acts of violence that turn the place into a savage battleground.

Deadline reports that Dexter star Jennifer Carpenter has boarded the new movie, presumably in the role of Vaughn's character's wife. I generally like the actress (she was good in Dexter and the Quarantine remake), so hopefully she has something more to do than the typical nagging, complaining, worried routine that's become so unfortunately rote in these kinds of roles. (The female lead in Zahler's previous movie didn't have much to do, so maybe he's beefed up this role a little.)

Bone Tomahawk was Zahler's directorial debut, and I'm very interested to see how he handles a movie with a completely different tone. You can read my interview with him right here.