Baker And Howe On The Case In "Devil's Knot"

Robert Baker (Out of Time) and Brian Howe (The Pursuit of Happyness) are set to join the cast of Atom Egoyan's film "Devil's Knot" about the infamous West Memphis Three murder case says Deadline.

The WM3 were sent to prison for the brutal murder of the three 8-year old boys who were found hog-tied in a drainage ditch. The trio of teenagers were convicted despite not a shred of physical evidence pointing to their guilt. Fueled by sensationalized reports about devil worship and ritualistic sacrife public opinion was against them.

Reese Witherspoon will play Pam Hobbs, the mother of one of the murder victims, who initially believes the trio committed the crime. She is eventually is persuaded that they are innocent. The trio were exonerated from the 1993 murders this last August, after spending nearly two decades in prison.

Colin Firth will play Ron Lax, a prominent private investigator and the first pro bono supporter of the defendents as they headed to trial in 1993. Lax helped find the DNA in the knots that bound one of the victims, evidence which cast suspicion on the stepfather of one of the boys - Terry Hobbs (Alessandro Nivola).

Newcomer James Hamrick has been cast to play the role of Damien Echols , the presumed leader of the trio. Justin Castor is set to appear as Jason Baldwin and Kristopher Higgins (In Time) will play Jessie Misskelley rounding out the accused.

Baker will star as Detective Bryan Ridge, one of the first responders and a main investigator on the case. Howe will also star as a cop in the form of California’s Detective McDonough, who gets drawn into the case while chasing down a lead.

Bruce Greenwood will play Judge David Burnett, who presided over the trial in a manner that was later criticized as being biased.  Michael Gladis will play Dan Stidham, the defense attorney for suspect Misskelley Jr. Matt Letscher will play the defense attorney for Baldwin. Mireille Enos, star of the hit TV series The Killing will play Vicki Hutcheson, an important witness in the case and was a link between two of the trio. Amy Ryan would play soon-to-be ex-wife of Lax. Dane DeHaan would play a teen who had history with the three murdered boys

At least four documentaries about the story have been produced.

Paul Harris Boardman and Scott Derrickson wrote the screenplay for "Knot" adapted from Mara Leveritt's non-fiction book on the case. with Boardman and Egoyan doing re-writes recently.

Boardman, Elizabeth Fowler, Clark Peterson, Richard Saperstein, and Christopher Woodrow will produce.

Production on Devil’s Knot begins next month.