Bridges, Gyllenhaal, Duvall and T-Bone get Crazy

Be warned: isolated coincidences aside, this is not Walk Hard 2.

No, Crazy Heart, which will begin shooting this August in New Mexico, is a somewhat more serious tale, based on Thomas Cobb's much-hailed novel of the same name.

Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski, Iron Giant) has signed on as the on-the-outs country music singer who pulls his life out of the bottle and back on track with the help of a youthful female reporter, to be played by Maggie Gyllenhaal (The Dark Knight, Adaptation). Said singer struggles with mentoring a rising country star, whose success begins to eclipse his own.

Although he hasn't done much musically since his 2000 album, Be Here Soon, Bridges will perform original songs for the film and soundtrack. But he's only part of the picture: legendary producer and songwriter T-Bone Burnett (O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, Gillian Welch's Revival) will oversee all the film's original music, as well as serving as a co-producer.

Robert Duvall, who will appear in the film, will also produce with his Butchers Run Films. Writer and director Scott Cooper, along with CMT Films and Informant Media, are signed on to the project as well. Crazy Heart is aimed for a mid-2009 release.

Related links:
JeffBridges.com
Maggie Gyllenhaal on IMDb
TBoneBurnett.com

Got a news tip for Paste? E-mail news@pastemagazine.com.