So Has 'The Wettest County' Changed Its Title To 'Lawless'?

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by Edward Davis
March 8, 2012 4:38 PM
14 Comments

How to make god laugh? Make a plan, goes the old adage. Often times a plan is put in place, but then one piece falls out of the puzzle and you have chaos. To wit: yesterday, a user on our site posted a comment that said The Weinstein Company’s prohibition drama the “Wettest County” -- directed by John Hillcoat and starring a stellar cast that includes Shia LaBeouf, Tom Hardy, Jessica Chastain, Gary Oldman and Mia Wasikowska -- had changed its title to “Lawless.” And as we know, the author of the book recently revealed on Twitter that the title was indeed changing.

To the internets! The first Google result that comes up is the unofficial “Wettest County” twitter account that had posted yesterday that the film has changed its title to “Lawless” (if we had a screencap, we’d show you). Five minutes later we emailed TWC for official confirmation. Crickets. ...And the next thing you know, the tweet had been deleted by the “Wettest County” unofficial account (though remnants of that conversation still exist).

Coincidence? Honestly, we don’t think so. Yes, 2 + 2 = 5 “journalism” does suck, but we think the studio's keeping mum (and likely asking for the tweet to come down) for a good reason.

The potential wrinkle? “Lawless” is also the title of Terrence Malick’s upcoming film starring Ryan Gosling, Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale and Natalie Portman, you know, the new Malick film that centers on sexual obsession and betrayal. And FilmNation is a producer on both films. We would assume Harvey Weinstein doesn’t really care though and with “Law...” errr... “Wettest County” coming out on August 31st (with a Venice bow to likely coincide), we’d assume “The Punisher” will do everything he can to ensure his movie catches the most audience flies possible (as it will likely roll out in limited release and grow from there). And if that includes a title change that steps on others' toes, well, it wouldn’t be the first time. To be continued....

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More: The Wettest County, The Weinstein Company, John Hillcoat

14 Comments

| Reply
Hattie | March 8, 2012 7:41 PMReply

Kinda funny that, again, Hillcoat is biting Malick!
Stacia | March 8, 2012 7:29 PMReply

"Lawless" is a terrible title. It sounds like some awful tv show or some B movie. I liked "Wettest County"...they should leave the title alone.
margo | March 10, 2012 1:12 AM

They are gonna screw this up like they did with "Warrior." I am bleeding for Matt Bondurant who wrote the outstanding novel. His title is intriguing. But when you sell the rights I guess you sell it all. But, I mean, "Lawless"? Really?
Cde. | March 8, 2012 7:29 PMReply

I think 'Lawless' is an interesting title for a film about "sexual obsession and betrayal" and a boring one for a movie about cops and criminals.
David | March 8, 2012 7:27 PMReply

Team Malick!
MMS. | March 8, 2012 7:22 PMReply

THE MASTER, WETTEST COUNTY(or whatever it ends up being called), and KILLING THEM SOFTLY; with these in mind, why doesn't it seem too far off adding Mr. Malick's untitled "romantic drama" starring Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko etc. to the slate of the Weinstein Company as well? Except it isn't to be found there, and I wouldn't be surprised if the Weinstein's were among the earlier bidders to Malick's Affleck vehicle, only to see the brothers scoffed by the director's likely kind refusal(thank God, in case) having them go on to pull this ridiculous rabbit out of their "mastermind"-hats. I know, wild speculation, but I could see this coming from the Weinnies...
KT | March 8, 2012 7:22 PMReply

Lesser of two evils: "Killing Them Softly" >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> "Lawless"
JP | March 8, 2012 7:02 PMReply

Jesus, this movie has a phenomenal cast, so why saddle it with a completely generic title as "Lawless"? Stop trying to build a better mousetrap.
John | March 8, 2012 6:53 PMReply

This is so dumb . . .
Cde. | March 8, 2012 6:44 PMReply

I'm hoping Malick wins this one by some miracle.
Sean | March 8, 2012 5:28 PMReply

Ugh. Leave it as "The Wettest County". It's original. Lawless sounds like a generic title (no offence Malick). I really wish Harvey would stop being a tool and leave the title alone (Cogan's Trade, and it should always be known as that, is going to get guff now as the amazing movie with a shitty name)
1974 | March 8, 2012 5:07 PMReply

Tweet by unofficial Wettest county twitter account posted that it is official information, otherwise I woudn't write it in comments page
Fred | March 8, 2012 5:21 PM

No shit, they're saying the unofficial account deleted it because...
a | March 8, 2012 4:40 PMReply

What the fuck!