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Casey Affleck, Beau Bridges and Zooey Deschanel have been cast in Dreamin’ Wild, an indie drama from Bill Pohlad centered on a recently rediscovered and reappraised musical act, Donnie and Joe Emerson.
Walton Goggins, Jack Dylan Grazer, Noah Jupe and Chris Messina have also been cast in the project, which is now in production in Spokane, Washington.
Pohlad, who previously tackled Beach Boys co-founder Brian Wilson in the biopic Love & Mercy, wrote the screenplay and is directing.
Innisfree Pictures’ Jim Burke (Green Book) is producing with River Road’s Kim Roth (Mudbound) and Pohlad. SPG3’s Viviana Vezzani (Moonfall) and Karl Spoerri (The Old Man and the Gun) are also producing.
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Wild tells the true story of the Emerson family and how, living in rural Washington, two brothers recorded an album that was unearthed and rediscovered in the 2010s, becoming an underground hit.
The script is set in two time periods and begins when Dreamin’ Wild — the album Donnie Emerson self-recorded as a teenager with his brother Joe — is re-discovered and meets critical acclaim. The adult Donnie is forced to confront ghosts from the past and grapple with the emotional toll his dreams have taken on the family who supported him.
Affleck is playing the adult Donnie with Jupe playing him in his teenage years. Goggins is playing Joe Emerson with Grazer as the teenaged Joe. Deschanel was cast as Donnie’s wife while Bridges is the boys’ father, Don, Sr. Messina is a record executive at Light in the Attic Records.
Steven Snyder and Affleck will serve as executive producers. SPG3 is co-financing the project with River Road.
Affleck, who won an Oscar for his work in Manchester by the Sea, is repped by WME and Ziffren Brittenham, while Deschanel is repped by CAA and Hansen Jacobson.
CAA-repped Bridges is due to star opposite his daughter, Emily Bridges, in an adaption of Richard Boleslavsky’s 1933 novel Acting: The First Six Lessons. Goggins, who recently wrapped The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey with Samuel L. Jackson for Apple, is repped by ICM Partners and Darris Hatch Management.
This year, Jupe starred in A Quiet Place Part 2 and appeared in Steven Soderbergh’s No Sudden Moves. He is repped by CAA, Grandview and Hansen Jacobson. Messina, repped by CAA and Management 360, is coming off of the Netflix thriller, I Care a Lot, with Rosamund Pike.
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