Gus Van Sant Takes Over Former Matt Damon Project, The Promised Land

First announced last fall, Matt Damon and John Krasinski are set to team for a drama based on an idea formulated between Krasinski and author/screenwriter Dave Eggers (“A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius”, Away We Go, Where the Wild Things Are). Deadline now reports that Gus Van Sant will direct the project, now with the title The Promised Land.

Back in October, Damon himself was planning to make the film his directorial debut. He’ll still star, though, and wrote the screenplay alongside Krasinski (rewriting a draft by Eggers). The plot is said to feature both acting talents as rival executives, one of which (Damon’s character) has his life turned around when he arrives in a small town.

Damon previously worked with Van Sant on Good Will Hunting and Gerry (both of which he did writing work on). He appeared last year in The Adjustment Bureau (opposite Krasinski’s wife, Emily Blunt), Contagion, Margaret, Happy Feet Two and We Bought a Zoo. In addition to his work on “The Office”, Krasinski starred in last year’s Something Borrowed and in this week’s Big Miracle. Van Sant, meanwhile, released his Restless last year and most recently directed the pilot episode of “Boss”.

The film is now set up at Focus Features and Participant Media and production is slated to begin this April.

(Photo Credit: Joseph Marzullo / Ivan Nikolov / WENN.com)