Gosling and Waits on board for Dagur Kari’s The Good Heart

Ryan Gosling (Half Nelson, The Notebook) and Tom Waits (Short Cuts, Down By Law) have signed on to star in The Good Heart, the next film from Icelandic director Dagur Kari, whose highly acclaimed films include festival favorites Nói albínói and Voksne mennesker (English title: Dark Horse). Katapult Film Sales are handling worldwide sales rights for the film, which will begin principal photography later this fall.

Produced by Skuli Fr. Malmquist and Thor Sigurjonsson for production company Zik Zak and executive produced by Joni Sighvatsson, The Good Heart is about a homeless young man named Lucas, who lives by the railroad in San Francisco. His existence has come to a dead-end and even his pathetic attempt to commit suicide fails. At the hospital, Lucas meets Jacques, who is recovering from his fifth heart attack. Jacques owns a run-down bar and is looking for a young apprentice. He has no family or friends, and since his days are numbered, he decides to adopt Lucas and educate him so that he may take over the bar after Jacques’ death. Everything is going according to plan until April, a European stewardess, stumbles drunk into the bar one evening.

The Good Heart will be Kari’s first English-language film. The director’s first feature, Nói albínói was in Icelandic and Voksne mennesker, which screened in last year’s Un Certain Regard Cannes sidebar, in Danish. Each film was intrinsically rooted in its own culture and few filmmakers have crossed multiple language barriers so seamlessly.