Zac Efron, Nicole Kidman and McConaughey in THE PAPERBOY Images

The Paperboy, the forthcoming adaptation of Pete Dexter’s 1995 novel, has just had its pre-release buzz jumpstarted by a slew of new photos. A few months back, the poster was released to the delight of many a crime-film and ’60s film poster enthusiast. These new pictures give us looks at more of the cast which includes Zac Efron, John Cusack, Matthew McConaughey, Nicole Kidman, and David Oyelowo.

A star-studded cast is attractive enough, but the more I read about the story, the more highly intrigued I get. Efron’s character, Jack, is a lowly paperboy, while his brother Ward (McConaughey) and Ward’s partner Yardley (Oyelowo) are up-and-coming investigative journalists. Jack aids them in a story that helps free a man wrongly accused of murder (Cusack), but this silver lining has an extremely dark cloud. The setting of hot and steamy Florida sounds perfect for this tale of injustice, pride, and out-and-out lies, a story that’s gonna get worse for its principals before it gets better.

I’m not sure how true to the source material the film will be, but from what I can gather, if it’s even half as dark as the book, it’ll be a grim picture indeed. Guys like McConaughey and Cusack are known quantities and just about guaranteed to be watchable in anything. But what I’m really looking forward to is seeing Kidman in something I don’t hate for the first time since…ever? I dunno, she’s a fine actress and all, I guess, but Dead Calm was the last movie she was in that I actually liked (if you haven’t seen that, dig it up–Sam Neill and early psycho Billy Zane stuff. Good times). This looks like a role she might be able to sink her teeth into, so here’s hoping on that score.

But I think the main reason I’m going to be checking this flick out is David Oyelowo. This relative newcomer from England had his big mainstream break-through in last year’s Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and as impressive as Andy Serkis was in that, I feel it’s a shame that his CGI-enhanced performance overshadowed Oyelowo’s. Oyelowo played James Franco’s character’s boss, and if a more evil, money-grubbing son of a bitch graced the silver screen last summer, I sure didn’t see it. And the best part was the guy played the villain, but without chewing the scenery or twirling his mustache like Snidely Whiplash the whole time. My favorite sort of villain portrayal, in other words. Oyelowo’s character in The Paperboy seems like he’s going to be not exactly above board either, so I’m really looking forward to that subtle characterization the guy is well capable of.

In the meantime, dig these new stills from the flick, courtesy of Kinopoisk.ru:

The Paperboy