Weinstein Company Dates Brad Pitt's Crime Comedy 'Cogan's Trade' For September 21

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by The Playlist
February 15, 2012 8:53 PM
5 Comments

The wait is almost over for fans of a sophomore collaboration between Brad Pitt and his 'Assassination Of Jesse James' director Andrew Dominik (it's been five years since that film and we were just celebrating the return of this excellent filmmaker). It's one of our most anticipated films of the year, and now The Weinstein Company has scheduled Dominik's "Cogan's Trade" for a September 21st release date which bodes well for a preview at Venice and the Toronto International Film Festival.

Starring Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Richard Jenkins, Ray Liotta, Scoot McNairy and Bella Heathcote, "Cogan's Trade" -- which is based on the 1974 novel of the same name by George V. Higgins (whose first novel, "The Friends of Eddie Coyle" was the source for the excellent 1973 film starring Robert Mitchum) -- centers on Jackie Cogan (Pitt) a professional enforcer who investigates a heist that went down during a mob-protected poker game.

Those wondering why the director of the elegiac and somber "The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford" would want to direct a comedy should look no further than the director's debut, "Chopper," a film that masterfully blended dark humor with a rather disturbing and unhinged protagonist played wonderfully by Eric Bana.

So far the film won't have a lot of competition as it faces off that weekend against Lionsgate's "Dredd," Columbia's animated "Hotel Transylvania 3D" (arguably a big film, but not in direct competition for the same audience) and Relavtivity's "House At The End of The Street." [Box Office Mojo]

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More: Cogan's Trade, Brad Pitt, Andrew Dominik

5 Comments

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nonanon | February 15, 2012 10:59 PMReply

Hotel Transylvania got bumped a week later, so it's just up against Dredd and THATEOTS.
Piotr | February 15, 2012 10:14 PMReply

If it's anything like the book it'll be more comedy than thriller.
Edward Davis | February 15, 2012 10:55 PM

exactly.
Billyboy | February 15, 2012 9:44 PMReply

Whoa...hold it. This is a comedy??!!

Since when? Thought this was a crime-thriller
Jack | February 16, 2012 2:41 AM

Yeah the author put that in as a weird note. I've read the novels (as others here have) and it is a dark comedy. If you parse the IMDb boards someone else describes it as comedy to, more specifically what Assassination... was to Westerns to crime films. Also on the IMDb boards, not set in Boston (per Casey Affleck) but set in 2008 with Obama's election serving as a backdrop. NY Times described as a "talky" crime drama, and Pitt himself said it was "unconventional".