Tradecraft: Aubrey Plaza to Star in Hal Hartley's Ned Rifle

Indie director Hal Hartley will complete his quirky espionage trilogy that began with Henry Fool (1997) and continued with Fay Grim (2007) with Ned Rifle, and Variety reports that Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation, The To-Do List) will star. According to the trade, Plaza will play Susan, a long lost flame of Henry Fool's. Thomas Jay Ryan, Parker Posey and Liam Aiken will return as Henry, Fay and Ned respectively, and James Urbaniak reprises his role as Fay's brother. In addition to Plaza, Martin Donovan, Karen Sillas, Robert John Burke and William Sage round out the new faces. (I guess that means no Jeff Goldblum, which is too bad. He was subtly hilarious as a gruff CIA man in Fay Grim.) Hartley partly financed Ned Rifle via a Kickstarter campaign, and here's the plot description he provided on that page:

In this swiftly paced conclusion, Henry and Fay's son, Ned, played by Liam Aiken, turns 18 and leaves a witness protection program. ("Rifle" is his maternal grandmother's maiden name—he's incognito). His mom has spent the last four years in military custody for alleged terrorist activities (see Fay Grim, 2007) and is transferred to a federal penitentiary to serve a life sentence. Ned, who has absorbed the Christianity of the well adjusted and devout family he has been living with, nevertheless sets out to find and kill his dad, Henry Fool, for the mess the man has made of Fay's life. But his aims are frustrated by the brilliant, sexy, and troubled Susan, whose connection to Henry predates even the great man's arrival in the lives of the Grim family.

Both Henry Fool and Fay Grim are available streaming on Netflix. 

Read my review of Fay Grim here.