William Friedkin Returning To Gangster Genre

William Friedkin is readying a follow up to Killer Joe. Deadline reports that Friedkin has signed on to direct The Winter Of Frankie Machine, an adaptation of the a boo of the same name by Don Winslow. The movie will chronicle the events of Frank Machianno, a retired mob hit man—perhaps living on his mob pension—who, just when he thinks he’s out, gets pulled back in.

Friedkin says that he’s looking to turn in a grittier more low-budget piece, similar to what he did with 2011’s Killer Joe. The French Connection director also adds that while Matthew McConaughey would nail the role of the hit man, he sees Walton Goggins of The Hateful Eight and Justified as a prototype actor for the role, although he notes that he won’t approach either actor until he has a script. Although the project has been bouncing around Hollywood for several years—the story of the conflicted criminal with a moral compass at one point had both Michael Mann and Martin Scorsese attached, because of course it did—Friedkin is said to be starting out with a fresh script written or co-written by Winslow himself. “[I] made the decision to become a writer after seeing The French Connection,” Winslow says about Friedkin. “That’s how strong of an impact it had on me.”