The Coen Brothers have been keeping a low profile since Inside Llewyn Davis, a film that received a great deal of acclaim but was largely ignored at the Oscars. Their next film will be the Hollywood comedy Hail, Caesar! with their pal George Clooney, and that one's ready to open next February. And they've been doing a great deal of writing, as well, penning Angelina Jolie's Unbroken and Steven Spielberg's Bridge of Spies. And now they're taking on another writing gig by adapting Ross MacDonald's best-selling crime novel, Black Money.
The 1966 book features MacDonald's hardboiled detective, Lew Archer, who appeared in 18 of the author's novels. The Coens will write the screenplay and may even direct the film which centers on Archer being hired by a spurned lover to expose the suave Frenchman who has run of with his client's girlfriend. His investigation unearths a deeper conspiracy tied to a 7-year-old suicide and a ton of gambling debts.
This won't be the first time Archer has been on the big screen, either. Paul Newman played the character in two underrated crime movies, 1966's Harper and 1975's The Drowning Pool. [Deadline]
