Deadline has reported that the megahit actress, Reese Witherspoon has been the first name to sign up to star in the West Memphis Three film.

The film is going be Atom Egoyan’s narrative version of the book, Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Memphis Three by Mara Leveritt.

The story follows the murder conviction of three eight-year old boys in 1993. Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley, Jr. and Jason Baldwin were convicted of the murder and had since been in prison. Now, after two decades in prison, on August 19, 2011, The West Memphis Three were released.

Witherspoon is said to be playing Pam Hobbs who is the mother of one of the original victims. She initially believed like most people that the three were guilty, but over time changed her mind and felt they were innocent. She also ended up fighting for their release from prison.

The novel was released in 2003 but there is so far no word when the expected release date of the film is.

Here is the official description of the book:

The guilty verdicts handed out to three Arkansas teens in a horrific capital murder case were popular in their home state — even upheld on appeal. But after two HBO documentaries called attention to the witch-hunt atmosphere at the trials, artists and other supporters raised concerns about the accompanying lack of evidence. Now, award-winning journalist Mara Leveritt provides the most comprehensive look yet into this endlessly shocking case.

For weeks in 1993, after the murders of three eight-year-old boys, police in West Memphis, Arkansas, seemed stymied. Then suddenly, detectives charged three teenagers — alleged members of a satanic cult — with the killings. Despite stunning investigative blunders, a confession riddled with errors, and an absence of physical evidence linking any of the accused to the crime, the teenagers were tried and convicted. Jurors sentenced Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley to life in prison. They sentenced Damien Echols, the accused ringleader, to death. Ten years later, all three remain in prison. Here, Leveritt unravels this seemingly medieval case and offers close-up views of its key participants, including one with an uncanny knack for evading the law….

I am interested in the film and I am excited to see Witherspoon in something a little grittier than she normally does. If you want more information on the case you can also watch the documentary films: Paradise Lost, Paradise Lost 2: Revelations and Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory.