Yesterday, at the Berlin Film Festival, it was announced that actor Bill Paxton is planning on directing a film version of Joe Lansdale‘s THE BOTTOMS.
Its 1933 in East Texas and the Depression lingers in the air like a slow moving storm. When a young Harry Collins and his little sister stumble across the body of a black woman who has been savagely mutilated and left to die in the bottoms of the Sabine River, their small town is instantly charged with tension. When a second body turns up, this time of a white woman, there is little Harry can do from stopping his Klan neighbors from lynching an innocent black man. Together with his younger sister, Harry sets out to discover who the real killer is, and to do so they will search for a truth that resides far deeper than any river or skin color.

Paxton, a fan of Lansdale’s Hap and Leonard novels, on how this came to be:

“The screenwriter Brent Hanley and I have been looking to team up again, since Frailty and when we read Joe’s book The Bottoms, we knew we had hit pay dirt. With a story and script this good, we have a chance to make a bonafide classic. I couldn’t be more excited!”

Paxton has previously directed twice (FRAILTY, THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED) with each garnering a fair amount of praise.
First published in 2000, THE BOTTOMS won the Edgar for best novel and was named a New York Times Notable Book Of The Year.