Posted on 03/24/2009 8:48:48 AM PDT by Reaganesque
As their next film, Joel and Ethan Coen will put their spin on "True Grit," the iconic Western that won an Oscar.
Not a traditional remake, the Paramount film will be more faithful to the Charles Portis book than the 1969 pic, also distributed by Par.
Portis' novel is about a 14-year-old girl who, along with an aging U.S. marshal and another lawman, tracks her father's killer in hostile Indian territory.
But while the original film was a showcase for Wayne, the Coens' version will tell the tale from the girl's p.o.v.
Pic will be their first period Oater.
Project reteams the brothers with Scott Rudin, their partner on the Oscar-winning "No Country for Old Men." The Coens wrote the screenplay.
The original starred as the teen, Wayne and as the lawmen, Jeff Corey as the killer and featured and Dennis Hopper as fellow outlaws.
"True Grit" originated at DreamWorks when that company was Par-based, but it was one of the projects that Stacey Snider and Steven Spielberg left behind since the original is part of the Paramount film library. Former DreamWorks prexy , now a Par exec, is steering the project for the studio.
The Western steps in front of another novel adaptation the Coens have with Rudin: "The Yiddish Policemen's Union," based on the Michael Chabon novel and set up at Columbia.
The Coens just completed "A Serious Man," which they scripted, for Focus Features and Working Title.
They are repped by UTA.
Dag nabit!
Beaten to the punch again.
Oh, hhhaaa
The War Wagon is comin’... women and children better stay behind ;)
bfl
Duvall, Hackman, Eastwood? Great actors but why not get John Wayne... Oh wait he’s dead. You guys do realize that Duvall is 78, Eastwood 78 and Hackman 77 ?
I like Selleck and Jones and you might be able to get those guys on a horse for a month of shooting at the spry age of 62.
Other than, maybe, “The Hudsucker Proxy”, the Coen brothers don’t make mistakes.
Robert Duvall. Definitely.
Craig T. Nelson
Oh, how my little sister cried when they gunned Glen Campbell down... :-)
A friend of mine, who went to U of Arkansas with Portis, said that Glenn Campbell took the time to show the producers all around the Ft. Smith area looking for shooting sites, but they decided to do Colorado instead.
I like Duval.
Something about him. The Apostle was an interesting movie and Duval did it great.
There is also a movie Next of Kin with him and James Earl Jones as brothers also classic Duval.
He has been around a long time if I recall correctly he was Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird.
Duval couldn’t fill Wayne’s Boots but he could do a good job.
True Grit meets Raising Arizona?
Now I really like the idea of McShane.
He was brilliant (if exceptionally profane) as Al Swearengen on “Deadwood”. That show had so much potential, I wish it had continued.
Bruce Cambell should play the marshall.
Rooster’s role = Michael Madsen, Jeff Fehey (the helo pilot from Lost), some complete unknown who has good presence.
Then it would be True S*&T instead of True Grit.
Sorry.
I like Sam Elliot, Tommy Lee Jones, or Robert Duvall(which could be a nod to the original movie).
Tom Slick would be good too.
Sam Elliott would be a perfect choice. I also think they should change the name so the image of John Wayne wouldn’t be in the audience’s mind while watching the new movie.
Bruce Cambell
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