Liam Neeson
Liam Neeson

#IrishTalent: Liam Neeson to play Philip Marlowe in The Black-Eyed Blonde

Variety is reporting that Liam Neeson has joined The Black-Eyed Blonde, which is being adapted by The Departed screenwriter William Monahan and features famous fictional private detective Philip Marlowe.

The Black-Eyed Blonde was written by Irish author John Banville (writing as Benjamin Black). When a new client arrives: young, beautiful, and expensively dressed; and she wants Marlowe to find her former lover, he soon finds himself not only under the spell of the black-eyed blonde, but tangling with one of Bay City’s richest families and developing a singular appreciation for how far they will go to protect their fortune.

The film has received a commitment of €38,150 in Fiction Development Loans from the Irish Film Board. It will be produced by Alan Maloney’s Parallel Films, in conjunction with Gary Levinson for Nickel City Pictures. Last year it was reported that Brooklyn director John Crowley was attached to the project, but there is no mention of his name in this latest news.