Paddy Considine took the festival circuit by storm last year when his dark, adult-drama "Tyrannosaur" earned worldwide acclaim. The actor/director/writer penned and helmed the story, which followed a down-and-out alcoholic who meets an unhappily married and deeply religious social worker and the picture featured powerhouse performances from Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman.
Speaking with Deadline backstage at the BAFTA's, Considine has revealed he's set to quickly his debut behind the camera now with an adaptation of Josh Hotten's body-building drama "The Years Of The Locust." Set in America's South in the '90s, the story is led by a sociopathic door-to-door sales king turned boxing promoter Rick “Elvis” Parker and the other his loyal, naive incorruptible fighter Tim Anderson and is described as a true story of intrigue, paranoia, murder and money. Here's the full synopsis, courtesy of Amazon:
It's the story of two men who never should have met, and when they did, one killed the other. There are walk-on parts for Don King, George Foreman, the FBI and a fallen NFL hero, yet it's the two central characters – sociopathic door-to-door-sales-king-turned-boxing-promoter Rick 'Elvis' Parker and his loyal, naive and ultimately incorruptible fighter Tim Anderson – that make this story extraordinary and unforgettable. It would be impossible to invent a man like Rick Parker, a freakishly fat ginger-haired giant who modelled his personal style on Elvis Presley and wanted to become the next Don King. Don himself told Rick how to do it – find a white man who could become the heavyweight champion of the world. Then Rick met Tim Anderson, a handsome, funny former baseball pro – was he the fighter to take Parker all the way? Rick left a trail of fixed fights and violent mayhem all across the South, but his dream stayed out of reach. By the end of his reign of terror Tim would be broke, poisoned and facing the hardest choice of his life. And now Tim is doing life without parole in a state prison, and Rick – well, Rick's dead. By juxtaposing the lives of these two extraordinary men, "The Years of the Locust" turns a remarkable, riotous true-crime story into a profound examination of chance, choices and remorse – one that's scary, sad and blackly, bleakly funny.
No word on what timeframe Considine is looking at to get back behind the camera but with Deadline noting he's "working to adapt" the novel, we could looking further down the track. Either way, it's good to see Considine plotting another directorial effort, and this one seems like it could bring him to his largest audience yet.
