Much like Ben Mendelsohn’s Animal Kingdom co-star, Jacki Weaver, it would seem fitting to say that good things come to those who wait. Weaver, who has had a career that’s spanned some 48 years, is now up for an Oscar nomination, vying for Best Supporting Actress against the likes of Helena Bonham Carter and Amy Adams.
Mendelsohn, now 41, had his breakout performance in the 1987 film The Year My Voice Broke, scoring himself an AFI Award for Best Supporting Actor. Though following the 80s and 90, his career seemed to lack the momentum he deserved; until his notable performance in Beautiful Kate (2009) and more recently in David Michod’s Animal Kingdom. In a role that was specifically written for him, Meldelsohn’s portrayal of Andrew ‘Pope’ Cody earned him international attention. And now everybody wants a piece.
The Melbourne-born actor has two films in post-production, alongside Nicolas Cage and Robert Di Niro (Trespass and The Killer Elite respectively). And later this month he’ll begin filming alongside some of Hollywood’s greats: Brad Pitt, the brilliant/underrated Sam Rockwell, Javier Bardem, Casey Affleck, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo and Ray Liotta.
Titled Cogan’s Trade, the film directed by Andrew Dominik (Assassination of Jesse James) is a mob drama, based on the 1974 crime novel by George V. Higgins. Here’s the book’s synopsis:
“Jackie Cogan is an enforcer; and when the Mob’s rules get broken, he gets hired to ply his trade – murder. In the gritty, tough-talking pages of Higgins’s 1974 national best-seller, Cogan is called in when a high-stake card game under the protection of the Mob is heisted. Expertly, with a ruthless businessman’s efficiency, a shrewd sense of other people’s weaknesses, and a style as cold as his stare, Cogan moves with reliable precision to restore the status quo as ill-conceived capers and double-dealing shenanigans erupt into high-voltage violence.”
According to Variety, Mendelsohn will play a junkie alongside Scoot McNairy: “The pair will perpetrate a heist that takes place during a high-stakes poker game held under the protection of the mob.”
No doubt one of Australia’s finest actors, we’re rallying behind Mendelsohn as he takes on Hollywood. And by hell are we glad he didn’t give up acting five years ago (which he revealed to GQ last year).
Cogan’s Trade will begin filming in New Orleans this month and is scheduled for release some time early next year.
Title Image by Sonia Recchia via Getty
