Pepper shows his True Grit

Barry Pepper is the latest to join up on the Coen brothers version of the western True Grit, reports Variety. He will conveniently play Ned Pepper, already joining a pretty filled cast which includes Josh Brolin, Matt Damon, Jeff Bridges and Hailee Steinfeld. Based on the novel by Charles Portis, the drama is being produced by the Coen brothers along with Scott Rudin and Steven Spielberg.

Following the murder of her father by hired hand Tom Chaney, 14-year-old farm girl Mattie Ross (Steinfeld) sets out to capture the killer. To aid her, she hires the toughest U.S. marshal she can find, a man with “true grit,” Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn (Bridges). Mattie insists on accompanying Cogburn, whose drinking, sloth, and generally reprobate character do not augment her faith in him. Against his wishes, she joins him in his trek into the Indian Nations in search of Chaney. They are joined by Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Damon), who wants Chaney for his own purposes.

Principal photography is already underway for the picture, set to be released under Paramount Pictures on Christmas Day of this year.