Now here are a couple of projects that I want to be kept informed on. The first is a project called WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE. I don't think it has anything to do with the classic song by Bon Jovi. (Sorry, one of those strange loves I had in the eighties. I also loved Pat Benatar, Joan Jett, Olvia Newton John, The Bangles, Prince, Michael Jackson, Aha, Tears For Fears, Culture Club, Men At Work and Cyndi Lauper. But remember the first step of a cure is admitting I have a problem.) Anything that could involve skeletons is ok by me. Then there is Ang Lee's next film. Wow. If you even have to ask why I'm excited, go out and rent Sense and Sensibilities and The Ice Storm. Now he's taking on Quantrill's Raiders. What a story, them guys were some of the bloodiest hack and burn bastards the country ever saw. Bunch a red leg creeps. Go rent OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, you'll see what I mean. They took everything he had and was... By the way, have I said how much I love that film. It's my fave Eastwood flick. Ok ok, the Sergio films are great, but the one I keep by my vcr for those vengeful nights is Josey Wales. Damn I get off course on these things. Anyway, here's the news....
Have not checked in for quite some time as pressing business has taken me on the road for a bit. But, now that we're back and sorting out a few things here are a few tid-bits to keep your interest up;
In the "In Development" world - get ready for Warmer Brothers to do a piece (now in its second re-write) called "Wanted: Dead or Alive" - a western set in the southwest just after the First World War. A US Marine veteran unable to find work because he is a half-breed (half white - half Apache) is offered a $10,000 reward by a wealthy rancher - the job: recover a prize horse stolen by a renegade Apache and taken to the Sierra Madres in Mexico. From there the plot gets more twisted and a score of old skeletons emerge from the past. Looks like a good one, Harry.
In the "In Production" world - Ang Lee's Civil War epic "To Live On" (now retitled to "Ride with the Devil") is moving along briskly. Work is all but completed on the reconstruction and set dressing of the town of Lawrence, Kansas (in reality the flood-ravaged town of Pattonsburg, Missouri) with little left to do but fill the streets with dirt. An awesome achievement by the art director. While there are some scattered reports of friction on the set between Jewel and Toby Maguire initially, these are but rumors and all seems to be well thus far. While still too early to tell with complete certainty, I would look for a show-stopping performance by Jim Caviezel as the guerilla leader Black John. This should be about on a par with the Irish madman ("It's my island.") in Braveheart. Re-enactors and extras are now arriving in the Kansas City area to start building Quantrill's guerilla force (initially slated for 450 horsemen but now we're not sure how many they'll actually get) with the Lawrence Raid supposed to shoot the last week of May.
More as this one develops.
The ever watchful Man Who Never Was
