Peter Landesman rewriting and directing Down By The River

“Parkland” writer-director Peter Landesman looks set to rewrite and direct “Down By The River”, according to Deadline.

An espionage revenge thriller inspired by the non-fiction book of the same name by Charles Bowden, “Down By The River” follows the story of a DEA official whose younger brother is murdered in broad daylight in downtown El Paso, Texas. After discovering that the hit was ordered by a local drug kingpin who lives across the river in Juarez, the DEA official heads across the border to exact his revenge on the killers and ultimately, the DEA itself.

Landesman and Naomi Despres bought the project to Scott Suber’s Bluegrass Films and are in the process of rewriting the original script b y Henry Bean.

The book was described by Landesman as “haunting and epic, it winds and digs deep into the gray zone of the US-Mexican border. We are using the true story chronicled in the book as a launching point, and the facts are a like a punch in the gut.”