In Contention

Tag: westerns

  • First look at Josh Brolin as ‘Jonah Hex’

    You probably know we’ve been following the upcoming adaptation of DC Comics’ “Jonah Hex” pretty closely around these parts.  It’s the intersection of westerns and comic books.  How could I not be all over that?  Then again, despite having each of the 40-some issues of the recently re-booted “Jonah Hex” comics series, I’ve only read one or two.  Maybe I should dig into those things.

    Anyway, courtesy of I’m Not Obsessed today (via Cinematical), on the heels of some ooh-la-la shots of Megan Fox that landed a few weeks ago, we finally have our first look at Josh Brolin as the title character.  Check it out (one more image after the jump):

    Josh Brolin in Jonah Hex

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  • Megan Fox in ‘Jonah Hex’

    I’ll leave it to the readership to answer the question, lest I seem like some kind of ass (too late).  But is it okay for one site to take another site’s exclusive pics and slap a watermark on them?  Anyway, Megan Fox is looking great in these new pics from the set of “Jonah Hex,” a project that has my fingers crossed:

    Megan Fox on the set of Jonah Hex

    Check out the rest at Movie Gab.

  • Josh Brolin and Jonah Hex

    Jonah HexJeffrey Wells conveys the sentiments of a single source, /Film marks it as reportage and suddenly it’s considered a done deal that Josh Brolin has signed on to star in “Jonah Hex.”  It all may well be true, mind you  It probably is.  But this is the kind of thing that web masters don’t understand when high profile institutions like Variety hold off on linking to them until people are actually on the record.

    ANYWAY, I’m a step removed from Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor.  Friends of a friend, so to speak.  Watched a few UFC fights with the chaps.  Good guys.  But I’ve heard zip.  If it’s true, it’s definitely a better choice than Thomas Jane would have been (gossip passed along in June).  It would also be a ballsy play for Brolin to make a hard left turn out of prestige and into the realm of genre once more with the directors of “Crank” at the helm.  But I like him for Hex.

    It’s no secret that I’m game for just about any western at this stage.  But “Jonah Hex” represents, along with “The Lone Ranger,” a branching out into typicality for the genre.  Rather than the prestige pet project here or there, we’re starting to see pop culture reflexivity, and that means a lot for the future of spurs and saddles on the big screen.  When (and if) these films start making money, studios will more and more loosen their resistance against making these films.

    But back to “Hex,” if you don’t read the DC Comics book, I certainly recommend it.  It was resurrected a few years back into a new series that is up to about #36 right now (I’ve got the full set), and rather than arcing major stories, it’s generally a one-story-per-issue kind of thing, self-contained, very pulpy, pure awesomeness.  Give it a look.

    Here is what Wells heard:

    I’m told that the deal is sealed for Josh Brolin to star in Jonah Hex, based on the graphic novel and directed by Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Crank, Game) and to be funded and released by Warner Bros. Brolin’s rep is not only denying this but claiming Brolin is “not attached,” but a voice is telling me to consider the word of a friend who tells me the deal was locked down last night.

  • Johnny Depp to star as Tonto in Bruckheimer’s ‘Lone Ranger’

    The Lone RangerUPDATE (11:36 p.m.): Big oops on my part.  It turns out Depp will be playing Tonto in “The Lone Ranger,” not the hero himself.  Which, frankly, strikes me as even odder.  But anyway, sorry for getting ahead of myself this afternoon.

    EARLIER: So…what do we think about this?  The news has broken out of the Kodak Theater during a Disney event this afternoon and is slowly trickling its way through the web.  Before long, it’ll likely be the biggest entertainment story of the week, maybe the month, because these things get inflated when a guy like Depp and a property like “The Lone Ranger” come together, so let’s dig into it now.

    A Bruckheimer/Verbinski/Rossio/Elliot collaboration on this material is a perfect conception and exactly what would make it work at a time when the western is struggling to make its way to relevance once again.  But I’m approaching this news with some measured reserve.  The likely reaction will be a gigantic: “That’s awesome!”  But I dunno…

    This is an exciting project regardless.  “The Lone Ranger” has quickly become one of my most anticipated films in the Hollywood pipeline and despite my ambivalence about today’s news, it still is.

    Also announced at the event, by the way, was that there will be a fourth installment of “Pirates of the Caribbean.”  Considering the dollars involved in that franchise, it’s certainly not a surprise, but I don’t think I’m alone when I say: “Ugh.”

    Additionally, Depp was “officially” announced as Tim Burton’s Mad Hatter in the upcoming “Alice in Wonderland.”

    Tell us what you think of Johnny Depp’s casting trifecta this afternoon.

  • 9/18 Oscarweb Round-up

    Val Kilmer in Batman Forever• Nathaniel Rogers just can’t seem to get excited about “Appaloosa.” [The Film Experience]

    • Dave Karger, meanwhile, sits down with Ed Harris to talk about the film.  GREAT interview. [Entertainment Weekly]

    • With westerns on the mind, Kyle Rupprecht recounts the best modern entries in the genre. [Moviemaker Magazine]

    • Sasha Stone cherry-picks some of Nancy Kriparos’s wonderful Toronto coverage in case you missed the finer points. [Awards Daily]

    • Is Val Kilmer going to be the next Governor of New Mexico??  I just like how the piece constantly reminds you that he played Batman, both in the headline and through a quote from Bill Richardson.  [The Independent]

    • Sam Adams talks to “Duchess” star Ralph Fiennes. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Patrick Goldstein, meanwhile, talks to director Gary Fielder about how Jim Brown made “The Express” work. [The Big Picture]

    • Want a bleacher seat for the Oscar arrivals? [Oscars.org]

    • Scott Bowles gets Stacey Snider and our old pal Chad Hartigan on the record regarding the “Titanic” reunion set to unfold in “Revolutionary Road.” [USA Today]

    • Kevin Kelly gets a nce sit-down with “Hurt Locker” director Kathryn Bigelow. [Spout Blog]

  • TORONTO: Ed Harris on ‘Appaloosa,’ acting and film crticism

    Ed HarrisWalking into to interview with any actor/director can be a tad intimidating, even after 20 years of doing it.  They have a tendency to be…difficult.  But 30 minutes into my interview with Ed Harris, he pays me a compliment that could keep wind in my sails for the duration of the fest: “Thank you for your integrity, intelligence and dedication to your job.  This has been a pleasure.”  He smiled as we shook hands and he walked me to the door

    Harris has been an actor I have admired since first seeing him as squeaky clean John Glenn in “The Right Stuff” back in 1983, which he followed with a chilling turn as a mercenary in “Under Fire,” his bright blue eyes windows into hell’s furnace. His career has moved along an interesting trajectory, shifting between supporting roles and leads with ease, often dominating whatever film he takes on with powerhouse acting.

    Oddly enough, he did not receive his first Oscar nomination until 1995 when he gave a sterling performance as Gene Kranz in “Apollo 13,” followed by another brilliant turn in “The Truman Show” as a God-like TV producer. He nurtured his dream project, “Pollock,” through its funding, before taking up the reins as director and grabbing another Oscar nod in front of the camera. And in 2002 he was nominated for a fourth time for his AIDS-afflicted writer in “The Hours,” a critically acclaimed ensemble piece from director Stephen Daldry.

    It is doubtful that “Appaloosa” will see any Oscar attention.  Though it is beautifully shot and the art direction is sublime, the film was something of a letdown, despite strong work from Harris and co-stars Viggo Mortensen and Jeremy Irons.

    “I gave the book to Viggo here at this festival in 2005,” Harris said, “when we were here for ‘A History of Violence.’ There was no one else I really wanted to do the film with, and I certainly never considered anyone else. I just thought he and I would make a strong partnership on screen. We don’t hang out, I mean we’re friends, but we don’t see much of each other. He agreed to do it, and Viggo’s the sort of guy where his word is his bond, so that gave me the start to keep moving on the film. It didn’t really occur to me that the film was a western, what struck me was the relationship between these two men in 1882, that’s what really grabbed me about the film. That it happened to be a western was incidental.”

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  • REVIEW: “Appaloosa” (**1/2)

    New Line Cinema\'s AppaloosaI don’t think it’s much of a secret around these parts that I really wanted to be on board for “Appaloosa.” I’m in love with the new resurgence of the western genre, even if I get irritated when people refer to “No Country for Old Men” and “There Will Be Blood” as evidence of it.

    This, of course, redirects credit due to a modern lineage that began with Kevin Costner’s back-to-basics “Open Range,” exploded with creativity with David Milch’s “Deadwood” and settled into a hell of a groove last year with James Mangold’s “3:10 to Yuma” and Andrew Dominik’s “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert ford.”

    But lulls and misfires are to be expected of a genre finding its footing in a brave new Hollywood seemingly willing to finance such efforts, and it pains me to say “Appaloosa” is an example.

    Lifted from the pages of a Robert Parker novel painstakingly simple in its narrative approach, Ed Harris’s adaptation suffers in its admittedly commendable insistence to be faithful to the source. The result is a stilted narrative with vague characterizations and otherwise awkward interaction.

    Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen star as Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch respectively, gun-hands that move from town to town restoring order for a fee, establishing the law and governance of the country’s last frontier. Fifteen years together can breed a relationship of intuition. Virgil and Everett sense each other’s disposition, depend on each other like extensions of themselves. The interplay was fascinating in novel form and is almost there on the screen.

    When the duo arrive in Appaloosa, the city has been forced to its knees by a quick-draw rancher, Randall Bragg (Jeremy Irons) and his band of misfits. By-laws are posted, Cole is given command of the town’s law and order and the wheels are set in motion for plenty of steely-eyed encounters and enough shoot-outs (and near shoot-outs) to satisfy the appetite.

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  • ‘Appaloosa’ art work continues to impress

    I really dug the one-sheet for Ed Harris’s “Appaloosa” that debuted a few weeks ago. There’s something about the monochrome grit of it all. And now it seems that New Line has released some banner art work for each of the four principle characters in the film. I stumbled onto them at Awards Daily (and cropped the set into the badass character quartet below).

    I’ll be reviewing “Appaloosa,” which I saw last week, in a few days once Toronto kicks into high gear. Feast your eyes for the time being:

    New Line Cinema\'s Appaloosa

  • ‘Che’ = ‘Havana’s Gate’

    Ouch:

    Call it Havana’s Gate. Steven Soderbergh’s elephantine account of the rise and deification of revolutionary icon Ernesto (Che) Guevara could prove as deadly to the director’s career as Heaven’s Gate was to Michael Cimino’s. Running a bladder-bursting 4 hours and 22 minutes (split over two parts), it reeks of authenticity but also self-indulgence. A potentially great performance by Benicio Del Toro in the title role is buried beneath Soderbergh’s stylistic tics and an almost complete lack of dramatic tension. It feels like every plodding jungle bootstep of Che and his band of rebels is shown, first in Cuba and later in Bolivia, but we never really get to know the man whose face launched a million T-shirts.

    Pete Howell has also given high marks to Ed Harris’s “Appaloosa” and Jonathan Demme’s “Rachel Getting Married.” Neither was my cup of tea, and the former was an outright disappointment of potential, but I expect there to be plenty of fans to go around for each.  Especially “Rachel,” with a delicious duo on screen in the form of Anne Hathaway and Rosemarie Dewitt. Nicole Kidman and Jennifer Jason Leigh, eat your hearts out.

  • Robert Parker’s ‘Appaloosa’

    Appaloosa by Robert ParkerBefore I head out today on a whirlwind of pre-Toronto screenings that will take me away from the work at hand, I wanted to follow up last week’s brief comments on Robert Parker’s novel “Appaloosa,” which is being adapted for the screen by director Ed Harris this year (and will play at the festival next week).

    I’ll reiterate here that the most interesting dynamic of the entire narrative is the relationship between Virgil Cole  and Everett Hitch.  Two gun hands that swagger from town to town to clean up messes, make up “laws” that must be followed and represent order for a small time before moving on, they’ve got a 15-year partnership that goes to the bone marrow.  The Hitch character relays the story in the first person, which makes the wordless conversations between the two men, the subtle nuances of knowledge, the all around ability to intuit each other’s disposition — especially where Hitch is concerned — all the more intriguing.

    Consider a scene that depicts Cole flying off the rails and beating a giant bar patron to a pulp, furious at some outside irritant more than the patron’s loud antics.  Only Hitch can pull him off the man, and he does so with a calm, inevitable touch, lifting Cole off the ground and pulling him back until Cole tells him, twice, and equally calm: “You can let me go.”  It’s an awesome dynamic these two have.

    Cole and Hitch will be played by Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen respectively in the upcoming film, and I really hope they can pull off this chemistry (I’ll know soon).  The narrative itself might be a touch trite and Renee Zellweger’s Allie character is certainly it’s most irritating aspect, but the peculiarities of character that Parker writes into the two leads more than make up for that.

    So if you’re a fan of the genre, I’d recommend it.  Don’t expect a miracle of substance, but you’ll get some nice grit and hard-nosed simplicity to sink your teeth into.

  • Touchdown in Houston

    No this ain’t football talk. Apologies on the content drought from my end. Travelling, family, friends, bridezillas and all the drama they entail.

    I notice tonight that Anne Thompson has beaten me to the Viggo Mortensen story I was looking forward to cranking out tomorrow. Oh well, it’s worth it just that SOMEONE is writing it. “Good” presenting itself in the festival landscape makes Mortensen a prime commodity if “The Road” and “Appaloosa” didn’t already sell you.

    Speaking of which, Robert Parker’s novel is making for a nice and breezy (if somewhat cliched) in-flight read. I’ve pushed through well over 100 pages since Raleigh.

    What’s most striking is the relationship between Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch, the nuances, the wordless conversations, the ease of the chemistry. If Mortensen and Ed Harris can carry that much across on screen we’ll all be in for a treat.

    But more on that when I finish the book.

    Back in L.A. midnight-ish. Things should be back to normal next week. Thanks to John and Guy for keeping things moving around here.

  • New ‘Appaloosa’ stills — Jeremy Irons!

    Warner Bros. released a slew of new pics from Ed Harris’s “Appaloosa” today, including this rockin’ shot of Jeremy Irons:

    Jeremy Irons in Appaloosa

    Check out the gallery for more.  This film can’t get here soon enough!

  • Alex Cox rips into Clint Eastwood…but why?

    Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of DollarsWhen I was in London over the summer, a friend landed a position at New Statesman magazine, so I became familiar with the periodical. I enjoyed it’s dry, slightly askew view of the world (and it fit my friend’s outlook like a glove). It also seems a perfect fit for this somewhat lifeless op-ed from multi-hyphenate Alex Cox regarding Clint Eastwood’s debt to filmmakers Sergio Leone and Don Siegel.

    A wandering, seemingly aimless swath of prose that eventually comes to the conclusion that Eastwood has become an uninteresting filmmaker, Cox spends much of his word count praising Leone’s work in The Man with No Name trilogy. He’s on board for Eastwood when discussing the actor’s shrewd decision to pare down much of his dialogue in the films, but he jumps ship immediately when Eastwood’s falling out with the director is discussed.

    Here’s a taste:

    Resisting the usual actor’s temptation to expand his role and to increase his share of the dialogue, Eastwood took a red pencil to the script. Something like 90 per cent of his scripted dialogue was eliminated. What remained counted: “Now, if you’ll just apologise to my mule . . . like I know you’re gonna . . .”

    But the shoots for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) were longer, and – at times – dangerous, as when Leone wanted Eastwood and Eli Wallach to crouch near a bridge that was to be blown up.

    Originally Leone had planned to have Volontè appear in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but he fell heavily for Wallach’s charms and cast him instead. Wallach’s character, Tuco, dominates the film to such an extent that both Eastwood and Van Cleef tend to become his foils. Eastwood wasn’t interested in this development. It was the last time he and Leone worked together.

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  • ‘Appaloosa’ gets a poster…and a hell of a tagline, too!

    The trailer debuted earlier this week, and now we get a spiffy new one-sheet:

    New Line Cinema's Appaloosa

    I like it.  It’s simple, not TOO cliche, has a sense of danger to it.  But I ADORE the tag line.  “Feelings get you killed.”  How cold-blooded badass is that?!

    Check out the “Appaloosa” buzz page here.

  • ‘Appaloosa’ trailer

    This looks awesome.  Old fashioned, unassuming, shades of the simplicity Kevin Costner brought back to the genre with “Open Range” five years ago.  And I just realized Groundswell and Michael London are behind this.  Very nice.  Anyone with the balls to pump money into westerns at this stage and continue to breathe life into their potential is A-okay with me.

    The film makes its world debut at Toronto in a month.  Can’t wait to hear the reaction.

    httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kg3TaAPELkQ

  • White hat, black hat, white knight, dark knight

    The Huffington Post’s Alex Remington is now the second person to compare “The Dark Knight” to the western genre (Anne Thompson was the first).  I like this idea and suddenly want to mull it over.  Next viewing I’ll keep it in mind.

  • Uh…‘Good Shepherd’ was always part of something more

    Universal Pictures\' The Good ShepherdI’ve read three stories today indicating that Robert De Niro wants to spin “The Good Shepherd” into a trilogy.  This…is not news.  Not exactly.

    The first mention was an aside in this Variety story, which was simply a “by the way” kind of thing.  Then Cinematical got a hold of it and passed the news along, and now I see The Movie Blog is sourcing Rope of Silicon (should have sourced Variety, but there’s that whole boycott brouhaha), and suddenly a couple of comments have become a “news item” for the day.

    I’d like to, if I may, quote my own words from a New York Times story nearly two years old:

    But Mr. De Niro, who was developing a C.I.A. project of his own at Tribeca Productions, agreed to a deal that kept things moving: He would consider directing or starring in “The Good Shepherd,” if Mr. Roth would write the Tribeca film, which deals with the period from the Bay of Pigs invasion to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

    At least one other CIA film was always in the cards, though the reception of “The Good Shepherd” (for which I have great respect despite its flaws) may or may not have slowed that train a bit.  Eric Roth told me about the possibility of a trilogy in the above interview, but that didn’t make the edit.

    Anyway, looking back at the Roth piece, I’m reminded of two of his scripts that I desperately hope find traction: “Hatfields and McCoys” (with Brad Pitt chomping at the bit to make it a reality) and “Comanche” (pitting Roth with Michael Mann once again for a western that sounds like it could be out of the park).

    This year, of course, Roth will be pushing the envelope as always with “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” one of my most anticipated films of 2008.

  • Leone at the Goldwyn

    I hate that I missed this, but did anyone happen to make the 40th anniversary resotration screening of “Once Upon a time in the West” last week? It screened at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater Friday night. I’d love to know what the print looked like, though news of the exhibition may have flown under everyone’s radar (I know it flew under mine).