AFM: Elle Fanning, Ben Foster to Star in Nic Pizzolatto's 'Galveston'

Melanie Laurent will direct the crime thriller.

Elle Fanning and Ben Foster will star in Galveston, adapted from the 2010 novel by True Detective creator Nic Pizzolatto.

Melanie Laurent will direct the moody crime thriller from Pizzolatto's screenplay.

Galveston follows two hard-luck outsiders on the run. Barely surviving an assassination attempt from his loan-sharking boss, debt-collector Roy "Big Country" Cady (Foster) flees to the Texas town to lie low, but in rescuing Raquel "Rocky" Arceneaux (Fanning), a vulnerable young prostitute, from the shoot-out, any hope of a safe haven vanishes. Rocky is a girl with secrets to hide, including one that will forever haunt Roy in a powerful story of sacrifice and redemption.

Low Spark Films' Tyler Davidson will serve as producer. Jean Doumanian, Patrick Daly, Kevin Flanigan and Sean O’Brien will executive produce. Production will begin in January.

Embankment is handling international rights at the AFM.

Fanning, seen next in Mike Mills' 20th Century Women, adds the project to a packed slate of upcoming films: Ben Affleck's crime drama Live by Night, Shawn Christensen's drama Sidney Hall, John Cameron Mitchell's musical How to Talk to Girls at Parties, Haifaa Al-Mansour's Mary Shelley biopic A Storm in the Stars, Sofia Coppola's Western The Beguiled, Miguel Arteta's romantic drama All the Bright Places, and Reed Morano's drama I Think We're Alone Now. She is repped by WME and Echo Lake Entertainment.

Foster, recently featured in Hell or High Water and Inferno, will be seen next in Scott Cooper's drama Hostiles. He is repped by UTA.

Laurent is repped by WME and UBBA.