The West Memphis Three case from the early '90s is a huge one to take on in a feature film, but luckily it looks like Atom Egoyan's upcoming project about it, Devil's Knot, isn't going to disappoint. Based off this anyway — the first trailer for Devil's Knot has finally hit the web, and it boasts not only a star-studded cast, but the promise of a suspenseful thriller as well.
If you're not familiar, the real-life case of the West Memphis Three took place between 1993 and 1994: In West Memphis, Arkansas, three young boys were found brutally murdered, and three teenagers were arrested for their deaths despite claiming innocence — all accused of sacrificing the boys in a satanic ritual. After their arrest and imprisonment, significant evidence proving their innocence began coming to light, leading a ton of people, including celebrities and rock stars, coming to the defense of the three teens. It wasn't until 2011 that they were ultimately released, based on new DNA evidence that proved the boys couldn't have been involved in the crime, meaning they were all imprisoned under wrongful conviction for 17 years.
The film seems to follow the case fairly closely: Reese Witherspoon stars as the mother of one of the young boys who was murdered, and Colin Firth stars as a investigator working on the case once the teens are named suspects. The film is based on Mara Leveritt's 2002 book, Devil's Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three .
You can check out the trailer above. Devil's Knot doesn't have an official release date yet, but it's expected to hit theaters sometime in spring 2014.
