Now that the wider world has fallen in love with Cillian Murphy following his Academy Award-winning turn as J. Robert Oppenheimer, it’s safe to say that anything with the Irishman’s name on it is going to attract loads more attention than before.
The Peaky Blinders leading man has already launched his first post-Oppenheimer project in Small Things Like These, while the second, Steve, is still in the pre-production oven. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the newest feature on the docket is Blood Runs Coal, a coal mining drama which Murphy is set to not only star in, but also produce through his and Alan Moloney’s production company Big Things Films.
So, what does “coal mining drama” even mean?
What is Blood Runs Coal about?
The film is based on the true story of the murder of Joseph “Jock” Yablonski, as detailed in Mark A. Bradley’s 2020 book Blood Runs Coal: The Yablonski Murders and the Battle for the United Mine Workers of America.
Yablonski was a combative trade union insider who sought to dethrone the then-incumbent, corrupt president of the United Mine Workers of America, Tony Boyle, due to the latter’s long history of ruthlessly serving the interests of the coal companies. In 1969 he was murdered in his home alongside his wife and daughter. What followed was one of the most painstaking manhunts in the history of the FBI, a remarkable takeover of one of modern America’s major labor unions, and the cultural chain reaction that followed.
Who stars in Blood Runs Coal?
As mentioned previously, Murphy will star in Blood Runs Coal in addition to his producing duties, and while it’s not clear who his character will be, it’s no bold endeavor to think that he’ll portray Yablonski. Then again, one probably wouldn’t put Murphy front and center only to have his character die midway through the film, so that assumption mostly hinges on the timeline of events that Blood Runs Coal will focus on, which isn’t yet clear.
Jez and John-Henry Butterworth are set to pen the screenplay adaptation, while Moloney, alongside John Davis and Jordan Davis of Davis Entertainment, will produce alongside Murphy. Bradley, the aforementioned author of the book, will executive produce.
When will Blood Runs Coal be released?
At the time of writing, there’s no word on when we’ll be able to see Blood Runs Coal for ourselves, as there’s not even a director attached just yet. The good news is that it doesn’t sound like this will be a particularly long shoot, so whenever the project finishes pre-production, we shouldn’t have to wait long after that.
(featured image: Universal Pictures)
