In the mid-1980s , there was another attempt to adapt the book into a film , with Tom Cruise as Lou Ford , Brooke Shields as Amy Stanton , and Demi Moore as Joyce Lakeland . The project was shelved . In the mid-1990s , after the success of '' Pulp Fiction '' , Quentin Tarantino was attached to direct the project . Uma Thurman was set to star as Amy Stanton . Juliette Lewis was considered for the part of Joyce Lakeland and Brad Pitt was attached to star as Lou Ford . This effort fell through after the September 11 attacks , because the film script was deemed too violent . Tarantino scrapped everything and started from scratch . In 2003 , Andrew Dominik wrote a highly stylized screenplay , and was at one point to direct it . He hoped the film would star Leonardo DiCaprio as Lou Ford , Charlize Theron as Amy Stanton and Drew Barrymore as Joyce Lakeland . Dominik lost interest in doing a film adaptation of a 1950s novel , however , and instead chose to film '' The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford '' . Marc Rocco stepped in , and wanted to cast Casey Affleck as Lou Ford , Reese Witherspoon as Amy Stanton and Maggie Gyllenhaal as Joyce Lakeland
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
The Killer Inside Me (2010 film)