Sarandon and Dreyfuss Set for Leaves

Susan Sarandon and Richard Dreyfuss have signed on to Leaves of Grass. The two join Edward Norton in the comedic thriller that Tim Blake Nelson wrote and is directing. The announcement was made during a press conference at TIFF.

According to the Hollywood Reporter Norton is portraying twin brothers, one an Ivy League philosophy professor, the other a small-time and brilliant marijuana grower. The professor is lured back to his Oklahoma hometown for a doomed scheme against a local drug lord (Dreyfuss) that unravels his life.

Sarandon plays the brothers’ eccentric mother, while Kerri Russell (Felicity) is in negotiations to play a love interest. Nelson will also appear in the film as a best friend to one of the brothers.

Nu Image/Millennium Film has come aboard to produce and finance the film which is scheduled to start shooting September 22 in Shreveport, Louisiana.