Nicolas Cage cast in David Gordon Green’s ‘Joe’

Nicolas Cage will star in Pineapple Express director David Gordon Green’s Joe, an adaptation of Larry Brown’s novel.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film’s script will be written by Gary Hawkins. The story is set in the South and centers on an ex-con who somehow becomes the role model for a 15-year-old boy from a homeless family. They try to find a better life in a Mississippi town.

“When Larry Brown wrote the novel Joe, he instantly created an iconic character of contemporary Southern literature,” Gordon Green said in a statement. “It is with great excitement that I've been able to work with Nicolas Cage to design an absolute and unexpected performance piece that is woven from the darkness, beauty, humor and environment of this material.”

Variety reports that WestEnd Films is selling the project to international distributors at the Toronto Film Festival. Lisa Muskat, David Gordon Green, Derrick Tseng and Worldview CEO Christopher Woodrow will produce. Worldview Entertainment, a new production company, is backing the film with Dreambridge Films.

Gordon Green is best known for 2008’s Pineapple Express, 2003’s All The Real Girls and 2000’s George Washington. In 2011, he directed Your Highness and The Sitter. He is also working on Prince Avalanche and Suspiria.

Cage’s next films include The Frozen Ground, which hits theaters in November, and Kick-Ass 2.