Easy’s Waltz: Vince Vaughn, Michelle Monaghan, Al Pacino, and Simon Rex to star in Nic Pizzolatto’s directorial debut

Nic Pizzolatto, the creator of True Detective, is making a movie! Pizzolatto is making his directorial debut on Easy’s Waltz, an indie drama starring Vince Vaughn (Freaky, Swingers), Michelle Monaghan (Gone Baby Gone, Source Code), Al Pacino (The Godfather, Dick Tracy), and Simon Rex (Red Rocket, Bupkis). In addition to directing the feature, Pizzolatto wrote the script. Margot Hand is producing.

According to Deadline, Easy’s Waltz is a mix between Swingers and A Star Is Born. The star-studded drama follows a down-and-out comedian crooner navigating modern Las with old-school Vegas personalities.

After collaborating on the first season of Bad Monkey for Apple TV+, Vaughn and Monaghan are old friends. Pacino joins the duo, who recently wrapped production for Knox Goes Away. Michael Keaton directs Knox Goes Away, focusing on a contract killer diagnosed with a fast-moving form of dementia who has an opportunity to redeem himself by saving the life of his estranged adult son. Keaton also stars in Knox Goes Away alongside Pacino, James Marsden, Marcia Gay Harden, Ray McKinnon, Lela Loren, and more. As for Rex, he recently starred in Red Rocket. In Red Rocket, Rex plays Mikey Saber, a washed-up porn star who returns to his small Texas hometown, where no one is happy to see him.

Pizzolatto’s True Detective, which premiered with Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson in the lead roles, took crime buffs by the horns when it debuted in 2014 on HBO—two seasons followed, changing the cast with each iteration.

If Pizzolatto is as good with a camera as a pen, Easy’s Waltz could be a drama darling waiting to happen. He’s certainly got the stars to make this an exciting project, and the premise already lends to a gritty tale set in a location powered by lies, gambling, and desperation. I’m getting Arthur Fleck mixed with Hunter S. Thompson vibes from the film’s description, though I have not seen a trailer or images from the project. Vegas is where anything can happen, and luck is a currency all its own. Pizzolatto’s vision of Sin City is something I want to see, and I’m sure others will too.