‘Ain’t Them Bodies Saints’ Gets Graphic Novel Prologue You Didn’t Know You Needed But Definitely Deserved
For the writer and director of Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, David Lowery, the story of Ruth (Rooney Mara) and Bob (Casey Affleck), two lovers pulled apart by their Bonnie and Clyde-style life, was too compelling to be confined to one film (read our own Allison Loring’s glowing review from Sundance here). Thoughout Saints, the characters are mostly apart, compelling Lowery to go so far as to write a short film about the couple in their carefree, young-love days before their crime spree caught up with them. But alas, the project never worked out.
Enter Criterion Collection artist Eric Skillman, who together with comic book artist Matthew Southworth, took the plot of Lowery’s prequel and created New Tattoo, a digital graphic novel available in its entirety over at Entertainment Weekly. It’s a cool-hued (and just plain cool), subdued little feature that complements the film beautifully; anyone who saw Saints would have loved to see more about the hopeless lovers in the days when things were a little less bleak.
Plus, isn’t it always great when filmmakers give us something like this for free?
