Reese Witherspoon has signed on to appear in Atom Egoyan’s upcoming West Memphis Three drama ‘Devil’s Knot,’ Variety is reporting. The Academy Award-winning actress will play Pam Hobbs, the mother of one of the victims. Hobbs originally believed that suspects Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley, Jr. murdered her son, but as more details became available, she came to believe the three didn’t commit the crime.

The drama is based on the 2003 book ‘Devil’s Knot: The True Story of the West Mephis Three,’ written by Mara Leveritt. The book chronicles the prolonged murder trial of the three defendants, who served 18 years in prison before being released in August 2011. Echols, Baldwin and Misskellley were accused of killing eight-year-old boys Christopher Byers, Michael Moore and Stevie Branch, who were found brutally murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas.

Screenwriters Scott Derrickson and Paul Boardman began penning the script in 2006, when the film was set up at Dimension Films. Egoyan recently teamed with Boardman to work on ‘Devil’s Knot’s latest draft. The latter will produce the film with Richard Saperstein, Elizabeth Fowler and Clark Peterson.

Currently, Egoyan hasn’t signed any rights deals with Echols, Baldwin or Misskelley. But the producers have secured life rights to several people involved in the controversial case, including private investigator Ron Lax. Production on the film will begin in summer 2012.

Written by: Karen Benardello