It shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that a movie about the West Memphis Three would eventually be made, especially following their release from prison after 18 years. And now, according to Deadline, Reese Witherspoon will be starring in Atom Egoyan’s Devil’s Knot, based on the 2003 book Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three.

The Oscar winning actress will supposedly play Pam Hobbs, the mother of one of the murder victims who initially believes the trio murdered her son, but she is eventually persuaded that the three suspects are innocent and wrongly accused. While the rest of the cast has yet to be announced, initial reports stated that Egoyan hoped to start shooting this coming Spring (with the plan to finance the film independently for the time being).

You may be asking yourself right about now whether or not a bio film is even necessary considering that the Paradise Lost documentaries already do a stellar job highlighting the trio’s struggles (the third film, Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, will premiere on HBO on January 12). At the same time, having a star like Reese Witherspoon attached to this project has potential to attract an even larger audience who otherwise may not have seen the documentaries. Plus, it’s not as odd of a casting as Damien Echols’ potential role in The Hobbit. We’ll just have to wait and see how the film turns out.

[via Metal Sucks]