Damon, Brolin Have "True Grit" for Coens

Matt Damon and Josh Brolin are in discussions with Joel and Ethan Coen to join Jeff Bridges in “True Grit,” the re-imagining of the iconic 1969 Western that Paramount Pictures will put into production next March for late 2010 release. 

The Coens, who previously attached their “Big Lebowski” star Bridges to play U.S. marshal Rooster Cogburn, are in talks with Damon to play the lawman (played by Glen Campbell in the original) who teams with Cogburn and a 14-year old girl to track her father’s killer into hostile Indian territory.

In a turnabout, Brolin is in talks to play the killer. The actor’s recent rise was greatly helped playing the good guy in the Coens' Oscar-winning contemporary Western “No Country for Old Men.” Jeff Corey played the killer in the original, and Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper also played outlaws.

They haven't yet cast the young girl.

The Coens are producing with Scott Rudin and Steven Spielberg. The Coens wrote a script which is more faithful to the Charles Portis novel that inspired the original. 

Though their current pic "A Serious Man" isn't chock full of stars, the Coens continue to draw top actors who want to work in their films.

Damon just wrapped the Clint Eastwood-directed “Invictus” and is shooting the George Nolfi-directed “The Adjustment Bureau.” He's also set to re-team with Eastwood in “Hereafter.” Brolin is shooting the Oliver Stone-directed “Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps,” and then will star in the Asger Leth-directed drama “Cartel.”

Both actors are repped by WME.