Sometimes the usually slow, dog days of summer can deliver an unexpected gift at the local multi-plex. That appears to be the case this Labor Day weekend when John Hillcoat’s period thriller “Lawless” hit U.S. theaters.
Hillcoat’s follow up to “The Road” debuted at the Cannes Film Festival this past May and In Contention’s Guy Lodge called it a “rollicking tale of blood, booze and cardigans.” Based on Matt Bondourant’s novel “The Wettest County in the World,” “Lawless” finds Tom Hardy and Shia LaBeouf as two brothers trying to keep their bootlegging business alive in 1930’s Virginia. Jessica Chastain and Mia Wasikowska play their respective girlfriends and Guy Pearce is the Federal Special Agent trying to take them down. Gary Oldman and Jason Clarke are also along for the ride.
The drama received positive reviews out of Cannes and hopes to find success with older audiences over the holiday just as “The American” with George Clooney and the celebrated adaptation of “The Constant Gardner” have in recent years. The Weinstein Company has provided HitFix with the exclusive final poster for “Lawless” which we are happy to premiere. You can enjoy it embedded below.
“Lawless” opens nationwide on August 29.