Michael Roskam And Tom Hardy Approach ANIMAL RESCUE

Bullhead director Michael R. Roskam is in talks to replace Limitless director Neil Burger on Animal Rescue, a Boston set crime drama written based on the short story by Dennis Lehane, who also wrote the script. A huge animal-lover Tom Hardy is being eyed for the lead. Crime drama follows a lonely Boston bartender who discovers a discarded pit bull puppy in a garbage can and rescue him. Unfortunately, our protagonist finds himself targeted by ‘the dog's abusive and mentally unstable former owner, while simultaneously getting caught in the middle of a criminal conspiracy playing out in his mob-controlled bar.' The story which appeared in Akashic's noir series titled ‘Boston Noir' has atmosphere, compelling characters and classic noir visuals like:

The street signs and window panes rattled, and Bob thought how winter lost any meaning the day you last rode a sled. Any meaning but grey.

Animal Rescue is one of several offers Dark Knight Rises star is weighing, which also includes Doug Liman's mountain-climbing epic, Everest. Roskam's directorial debut, Belgian crime drama Bullhead, was nominated for a foreign language Oscar. The filmmaker now has an adaptation of John Vaillant's novel The Tiger in development, and is also attached to write and direct the HBO pilot, Buda Bridge. The Boston-based author Lehane is best known for writing the novels that had found their way to the big screen such as Mystic River, Gone Baby Gone and Shutter Island. His latest novel, ‘Live By Night,' is in development at Warner Bros., with the multi-hyphenate Ben Affleck expected to write/produce/direct and star in the film.