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Netflix’s Bonnie & Clyde Drama The Highwaymen Rounds Out Cast
Netflix’s Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson crime drama movie The Highwaymen has filled out its cast. The long-gestating Highwaymen once again revisits the Bonnie and Clyde saga, only this time we get the story from the perspective of legendary lawmen Frank Hamer and Maney Gault. John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) directs from a script by himself, John Fusco (Young Guns), and Scott Frank (Logan).
Bonnie and Clyde hunters Hamer and Gault had both long-since retired before finding themselves lured back into action. Their posse would hunt Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow across several states before finally ambushing the pair in Louisiana. Bonnie and Clyde died in a hail of bullets and thus passed into legend. That legend would come to vivid life in 1967’s classic film Bonnie and Clyde, starring Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty. A 2013 A&E miniseries brought the famed duo to television screens, with Emile Hirsch and Holliday Grainger in the leads. By and large, Hollywood has chosen to focus on the outlaws, giving short shrift to the lawmen’s story.
With The Highwaymen, Netflix will now give the lawmen their due. Costner and Harrelson were previously named as the movie’s leads. As reported by Deadline, the two stars will be joined by a well rounded cast that includes Kathy Bates, John Carroll Lynch, Kim Dickens, Thomas Mann, and William Sadler. Shooting on the series has already commenced in Louisiana.
Netflix has put together a truly strong cast backing up Costner and Harrelson. Bates of course is an Oscar-winner for her performance as Annie Wilkes in Misery. Lynch and Sadler likewise are prolific character actors who add a particular flavor to all their performances. (Surely no one can forget Sadler as The Grim Reaper in Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey?) Dickens too is always memorable, never more so than when she played Joanie Stubbs on Deadwood. Dickens currently plays Madison on AMC’s zombie series Fear the Walking Dead. Mann is much younger than his cast mates, but he too has made a strong impression through roles in Fargo, Kong: Skull Island, and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
The Highwaymen has been kicking around Hollywood so long, Paul Newman and Robert Redford were once set to play the central duo. Liam Neeson was attached to the project along with Harrelson as late as 2013. Fusco has put in many years on this project, and even once interviewed the real Frank Hamer. Details of this version of the story will reportedly differ greatly from what we saw depicted in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde.
As for Frank, his inclusion on the team makes sense given his relationship with Netflix. Frank both wrote and directed last year’s acclaimed Western series Godless for the streaming service. Frank’s work on last year’s blockbuster Logan garnered him a Best Screenplay Oscar nomination together with James Mangold and Michael Green.
