Giovanni Ribisi Plays David Koresh in “Waco”

Giovanni Ribisi will be playing David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidian cult in a film that will be out late this year (November is the current prediction). This looks like a good casting choice to us, and Giovanni should certainly have no problem with the role.

The “Waco” film will also feature Adrien Brody as Koresh’s right-hand man, Steve Schneider with Sharon Stone as his wife, Judy. Kurt Russell will be the FBI negotiator, Byron David.

The movie was originally going to be filmed in Houston, Texas, but it ran into delays when the Texas Film Commission was unhappy about what they called historical inaccuracies in the script.  Movie producer, Emilio Ferrari really wanted to the movie to be made in Texas, because that is “where it actually happened,” he told the Houston Chronicle back in 2009.  Ferrari did not agree that the film was either “against Texas” or “inaccurate.”

“Thousands of hours of research went into this project,” Ferrari said. “Every expert on Waco worked for me.”

It will be the first major film on the Branch Davidian standoff which began on Feb. 28, 1993, when federal agents attempted to serve search and arrest warrants at the Waco-area compound. That was the beginning of a 51-day siege that ended with the death of 75 people, 21 of whom were children.