It’s become gospel that there is no shortage of cribbed thinking and conservative rehashing going on in Hollywood these days. And now it seems the trend is stretching into the slightly revitalized western genre with CBS Films’ development of a feature film based on the old “Gunsmoke” television series.
The film recently landed writer Gregory Poirier (he of “Rosewood” and “National Treasure: Book of Secrets”), but as I read through Boris Kit and Stephen Zeitchik’s Risky Biz Blog story at The Hollywood Reporter, I kept wondering why Hollywood doesn’t take the next step here and just revamp the property as a full-blown series once again.
“Gunsmoke” was filmed at the Melody Ranch Motion Picture Studio up in Newhall, right outside of Santa Clarita. I’ve been there a couple of times and the Veluzat brothers, Renaud and Andre, who own the property, are stand-up guys who get a lot of business out of their old town set. But not many westerns are going through there anymore, beyond the occasional Hallmark Channel entry. The last time things were booming was back in the “Deadwood” days.
But the property is in great shape and is just BEGGING for a western to set up shop there. Maybe CBS Films plans to use the set for the upcoming film, but to me, this is a PR opportunity lying in wait (“Classic series returns to its roots,” that kind of thing), not to mention how novel it would be to see a weekly western series on the tube once again. Fat chance, of course, but a guy can dream.
Anyway, here’s the part of the story that gives me nightmares:
The action-adventure will re-imagine Marshal Matt Dillon, the hero of the classic Western, for modern audiences. The story will be set in the same American West as the original but will feature a contemporary look and modern action twists.
If “Sherlock Holmes” bombs, maybe they’ll rethink that. Again, a guy can dream.
Comments
3 responses to “Why not remake ‘Gunsmoke’ as a TV series instead?”
Meh somehow I’m not fond for a western tv-series except Deadwood. Movies are much better and far more romantic.
I have thought about a Gunsmoke movie and who would be good in playing the rolls over the past few years. I came think that Brad Garrett would good as Matt Dillon, Sherre J. Wilson as Kitty Russel and Bill Murray as Doc Adams maybe. Thinking about it, Bill Murray may be better as Festus Haggen. I haven’t come with any Ideas who would play Newly O’Brien.
I have been watching days of our lives since the extremely initial day it aired in 1965