True Detective Creator To Direct Easy's Waltz Starring Vince Vaughn And Al Pacino
"True Detective" creator Nic Pizzolatto will make his feature film directorial debut with the drama "Easy's Waltz." Deadline confirmed the news, revealing the project will star Vince Vaughn alongside Michelle Monaghan, Simon Rex, and Al Pacino. Unsurprisingly, given his history of penning entire seasons of his crime drama anthology solo, Pizzolatto will also be on screenwriting duty for the film, which is described as a mix of "Swingers" and "A Star Is Born."
"Easy's Waltz" will reportedly focus on a "down-on-his-luck comedian-crooner" in modern-day Las Vegas, who navigates the city alongside "old-school Vegas personalities." Not much else is known about the project, which is being produced by Margot Hand, who also lent her producing talents to 2021's "Passing."
No release has been announced, and further details are yet to be revealed, but this will be the second time Pizzolatto and Vaughn have teamed up, following the latter's starring role in season 2 of "True Detective." Meanwhile, Vaughn and Monaghan have both just wrapped season one of the Apple TV+ drama series "Bad Monkey," and Al Pacino will be coming off the Michael Keaton-directed "Knox Goes Away."
Pizzolatto's first feature
Since "True Detective" debuted, Nic Pizzolatto has slowly developed a taste for directing. Once original season 3 director, Jeremy Saulnier, left the project, the creator stepped up to direct episodes four and five, which seemingly changed how Pizzolatto approached the show. Previously known as somewhat of a fastidious micro-manager — something that Cary Fukunaga struggled with when working with Pizzolatto on "True Detective" — he said that taking on directorial duties taught him to "trust the process and trust the people we hired a bit more," adding, "I don't know that I've ever felt calmer during production than when I was directing."
Now, Pizzolatto will be hoping to explore further the calming effects of directing with his feature film debut. He's previously penned other movies, co-writing the remake of "The Magnificent Seven" in 2016 and adapting his own novel "Galveston" for a 2018 feature. But this will be the first time he oversees a feature-length project as director, which coincides with his departure from "True Detective." The series' fourth season will see new showrunner Issa López write and direct her Alaska-based mystery, while Pizzolatto seemingly branches out from the crime dramas he's thus far been known for. Whether this new direction will suit the "True Detective" creator remains to be seen, but with his show failing to meet the high quality of its first season with the second and third seasons, it certainly seems like a smart move to try something new. Further details will surely arrive in the coming months, and we'll have more as it develops.