The Creed of Violence is hitting the dusty trail once again, with a new feature adaptation of the 2009 Boston Teran novel in the works.
The Last Samurai and Blood Diamond filmmaker Ed Zwick will direct, and will also write and produce with creative partner Marshall Herskovitz for High Top Productions, the banner owned by Creed of Violence publisher High Top Publishing.
The novel is a revisionist Western set amid the backdrop of the Mexican Revolution. Per High Top, it follows “the unlikely partnership between a ruthless assassin and a young government agent — who share a hidden past — as they navigate a violent, treacherous landscape that mirrors the brutalities of empire and corruption.”
The book has garnered Hollywood attention before, with Leonardo DiCaprio and Christian Bale at various points attached to star, while Daniel Craig and director Todd Field also previously had a version of their own in deveopment.
“With echoes of my favorite classic movies, what could have been a familiar tale of vengeance, obligation and the ties that bind becomes utterly fresh with the book’s unique sensibility, unapologetic violence, and the encounter of the two most unforgettable characters ever to share a truck full of explosives headed into the teeth of a revolution,” said Zwick.
The hope is to make this the first part in a trilogy based on Teran’s novels, which also include The White Country and Gardens of Grief.
“The works of Boston Teran are about America and the moral territory of its soul,” said High Top’s Donald Allen, who runs the company with his son, Wyatt. “They are about the timely social and political themes of our violent world as seen through the eyes of our past. They are about being relevant, about challenging the popular narrative, and about embracing a powerful and unique perspective.”
Zwick has played in the historical sphere before, directing Denzel Washington to an Oscar with the Civil War drama Glory, and helming the Tom Cruise hit Last Samurai. He won an Oscar of his own for producing Shakespeare in Love. And last year, he published the memoir Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood.
