"The Wettest County in the World" Is Attracting Hollywood A List “Wettest” is a sweeping, historical crime drama of the American South, based on the author Matt Bondurant ’s grandfather and two great-uncles — three brothers who made up a fierce criminal gang at the center of the country’s moonshine trade (it's that kind of wetness). The book also tracks a parallel story involving a writer named Sherwood Anderson who was on the trail of the bootlegging story, reporting on the moonshine trade and researching his 1936 novel " Kit Brandon ." Shia LaBeouf, Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Gosling are among the actors whose names have been presented as associated with the project to reps and execs around town (though none is yet on board). The names of Paul Dano and Michael Shannon have also surfaced in connection with the project. Between them, the group has seven Oscar and Golden Globe nominations (thank you, Gosling, Johansson and Shannon) and three of the ten highest-g