Ben Mendelsohn and Scoot McNairy are two actors who really only came to my attention in the past year. An Australian actor (represent!), Ben Mendelsohn has acted in numerous local films and television programs as well as the occasional bit part in Hollywood movies including Australia and Knowing. International cinephiles however would most likely know him from his recent turn as the mentally unstable criminal Andrew “Pope” Cody in David Michod’s critically acclaimed Animal Kingdom.
McNairy, meanwhile, having previously been restricted to bit parts and TV roles, recently starred in the low budget sci-fi parable Monsters, a film that, in light of its surprising lack of special effects, relied largely on the strong performances of its leads.
In light of the impressive work both men turned in last year, it comes as welcome news that they have both been cast opposite Brad Pitt in Andrew Dominik’s upcoming crime film Cogan’s Trade According to Variety, McNairy and Mendelsohn will play “two young junkies who perpetrate a heist that takes place during a high-stakes poker game held under the protection of the mob.”
Brad Pitt will play a mob enforcer who is investigating the robbery. The film will also mark the second time that Pitt and director Andrew Dominik have worked together, having previously collaborated on The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
Mendelsohn also recently finished shooting Trespass with Nicholas Cage, and The Killer Elite with Robert DeNiro, while McNairy is reportedly in talks to take parts in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi film Prometheus and Timur Bekmambetov’s presidential…um…biopic, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. All in all, it looks like we’re going to be seeing a lot more of these two guys in the next couple for years. Are you as excited as I am?
