Carson McCullers Biopic, ‘Lonely Hunter,’ Finds Its Tennessee Williams

By  · Published on May 9th, 2012

There’s been little chatter about Deborah Kampmeier’s (Hounddog) biopic of classic American writer Carson McCullers, Lonely Hunter, since the filmmaker picked Jena Malone for the lead role last October, but a fresh press release now reports that a rising star has been selected to play Tennessee Williams in the film.

Logan Marshall Green will play the writer, one of America’s most celebrated (if not the most celebrated) playwrights, in Lonely Hunter. Williams was McCullers’ best friend and her “longtime confidant,” so the role is a crucial one when it comes to sketching out McCullers on screen. Green was last seen in Brooklyn’s Finest and Devil, but he’s already poised to break out this year – he’s got a co-starring role in Ridley Scott’s Prometheus. Kampmeier herself said, “Logan is amazing for Tennessee Williams. People think of him as a leading man but I think he’s also a character actor in a leading man’s body. He is so talented and with his theater background and training he is perfect for the role.”

McCullers is most famous for her novels “The Heart is a Lonely Hunter” and “The Member of the Wedding.” She also penned poems, stories, plays, and her own unfinished autobiography and is frequently referred to in the same breath as writers like William Faulkner, Williams, and Truman Capote. McCullers’s life was also not an easy one, marked by illness, alcoholism, and heartbreak. Cinematic!

Malone is expected to portray McCullers throughout the film, which will reportedly cover over thirty-five years of her life. The film will start filming this year, and that the production is currently casting for other famous roles in the film, including Capote and Gypsy Rose Lee.