Irish actor Barry Keoghan (“The Banshees of Inisherin,” “The Killing of a Sacred Deer”) is set to play Billy the Kid in a new feature re-telling of the life of the classic Old West gunslinger at Element Pictures, RAW and Film4.
“American Animals” director Bart Layton helms the project which has been a dream project for Keoghan. According to Deadline, the new take will lean into Billy’s Irish ancestry and complicated childhood.
At age 15, Henry McCarty was orphaned after his mother died and his stepfather abandoned him. By the time he was 18, he was wanted for murder in Arizona and his notoriety escalated from there until he was shot to death at age 21.
Keoghan lost his own mother at 12 years old and grew up in the foster system. As a result, he tells the trade he understands the pressures McCarty faced and the choices he made which edged him toward a life of crime.
His aim with the project is to “step outside of the legend that was built up by the papers and tackle the pressure he must have felt from those early days. He was running his whole life… there’s a soul and a vulnerability to Billy that I think it’s important to bring, to understand him as a real person rather than the myth that he has become.”
Hunter Andrews penned the script and filming aims to begin in the early part of 2024.
Source: Deadline
