Joaquin Phoenix to star in Affleck’s debut western

Casey Affleck will direct Joaquin Phoenix in his fiction directing debut. The pair have already worked together in 2010’s documentary I’m Still Here, but according to THR, Affleck and Phoenix are swapping raps for guns in Western action Far Bright Star.

Set in 1916, Joaquin Phoenix will play an aging cavalryman who is leading a posse on a hunt for Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa. But when the group is attacked and most of the men are killed, the cavalryman is left struggling to survive in the desert.

“This is a beautifully written story on pain and loss and the drive and resilience one finds within themselves to continue through the day,” Affleck tells The Hollywood Reporter.

We can expect production to begin next year.