Attorney Cast to Untie the Devil’s Knot

Steve Barton   |  

Jun 22, 2012

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Atom Egoyan’s Devil’s Knot, based on the events surrounding the recently freed West Memphis Three, has cast an actor to play one of the key components in this truly tragic and horrifying story. Read on for the latest!

Deadline reports that Matt Letscher has joined the film to play defense attorney “Paul Ford,” the man who represents Jason Baldwin, one of the three teenagers accused of a triple homicide. Despite no psychical evidence, the three were convicted in 1993. Baldwin, along with Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelley, Jr., were finally released in 2011.

He joins Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth in the project that will be produced and financed by Worldview Entertainment. College drama student James Hamrick will make his feature debut playing key defendant Damien Echols, and Seth Meriwether has been tapped to play West Memphis Three defendant Jason Baldwin . Also starring are Mireille Enos, Colin Firth, Reese Witherspoon, Collette Wolfe, Alessandro Nivola and Kris Polaha, while Amy Ryan and Dane DeHaan remain in talks to join the ensemble. Kristopher Higgins will join Meriwether and Hamrick as fellow West Memphis Three member Misskelley, Jr.

Based on journalist Mara Leveritt’s bestselling book of the same name, Devil’s Knot follows private detective Ron Lax (Firth), who took on the West Memphis Three case pro bono. He found DNA evidence linking Terry Hobbs (Alessandro Nivola), the stepfather of one of the three murdered boys, to material that was used to bind one of the victims — evidence that helped convince a judge to release Baldwin, Misskelley Jr. and Echols last year.