Brad Pitt stars as Jackie Coogan, a hitman for the mob from author George V. Higgins’ novel Cogan’s Trade, in the upcoming film Killing Them Softly. Directed by Andrew Dominik, whose previous two films have been pretty exceptional (Chopper and The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, also starring Pitt), Killing Them Softly has promise as a white-knuckle shoot ’em up with just the right amount of artistic heft. Mob genre specialists James Gandolfini, Ray Liotta and Richard Jenkins all star, but keep a look out for Boston rapper Slaine continuing his acting career. Killing Them Softly will be released October 19, 2012.