article by: Zachary Reid
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH.com
"Jennifer is starring as well as serving as a producer in her up-coming drama/war film 'The Yellow Birds'. It's based off of award-winning author Kevin Power's experience as a soldier in Iraq, and the movie is nearing the end of production set in Morroco, which is scheduled to release later this year. Actor's Alden Ehrenreich and Tye Sheridan play the lead roles of privates Brandon Bartle and Daniel Murphy. Actors Benedict Cumberbatch and Will Poulter had originally signed onto the project, but due to scheduling conflicts they dropped out before production took place. Ehrenreich and Sheridan make good replacements as two soldiers who bond in training and fight to stay alive during the war. The cast also includes its latest addition - actress Toni Collette who'll play Amy Bartle; Alden's character's mother, and actor Jason Patric who'll play Captain Anderson; Alden's and Tye's captain. Actor Jack Huston is tackling the role of Sergeant Sterling, Alden's and Tye's commanding authority figure. This marks the second feature-length movie from director Aleandre Moors. The first was 'Blue Caprice', about the Beltway sniper attacks in 2002. The book 'The Yellow Birds' was published in September 6, 2012 almost immediately optioned by the Los Angeles, California production company Story Mining & Supply Company.
Author Kevin Powers said,
"I felt like they had a good vision for my story. David Lowery, who wrote the movie's screenplay, very generously included me in the adaption. Lowery made his own story, but stuck true enough to the book that I am pleased with the screenplay. Powers admitted, "It wasn't something I would have known how to do on my own," he said of writing a screenplay adding, "I felt really comfortable with them."
Kevin Powers spent a few days on set while shooting in Morocco in the month of December of 2015. He said, "Seeing Alden Ehrenreich as Brandon Bartle was a powerful experience." Powers himself graduated from James River High School in 1998. He enlisted in the Army and served in Iraq in 2004-2005. After his discharge, he earned a bachelor's degree at Virginia Commonwealth University and a master's degree in fine arts at the University of Texas at Austin. Kevin and his wife also lived in Italy, where she studied, and New York, but returned to Richmond, Virginia a couple of years ago. Of returning to Richmond Powers said, "We felt like it was time to settle down. It was between here and Austin, Texas where we lived for three years. This feels like home." Powers's family is from Richmond, and his wife's family lives in North Carolina. His book 'The Yellow Birds' won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN award and the Guardian First Book award. Kevin also wrote 'Letter Composed During a Lull in the Fighting.' The collection of poetry was published in 2014. He's currently working on a second novel, about a murder in the Richmond, Virginia area after the Civil War. He hopes to have it published in the next year or two.
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