Kevin Costner Joining Tarantino's 'Django Unchained'?

So goes Quentin Tarantino's quest to one-up his own cast on every new film.  What's surprising with his latest film, a Sergio Leone-style Spaghetti Western, is the eclectic cast that bodes a very promising ensemble. Reports are appearing that Kevin Costner is negotiation to come on board Tarantino's Django Unchained joining said eclectic cast.

Click to read more ...

Spanish Trailer For 'Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid' Sequel

Call me ignorant but I wasn't even aware of this, a new trailer arrived today for a sequel named Blackthorn to the classic Western, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The film will follow the duo years after the original in Bolivia with Butch (now calling himself Blackthorn) trying to get home.

I don't want to rain on any parades but doesn't this ruin the cliffhanger ending of the original, I always assumed they were dead but there you go.  

Click to read more ...

Tarantino's Western Gets A Little Closer, Maybe

Cinemablend posted this morning that Quentin Tarantino's script for his long awaited western, which he apparently refers to as a "Southern" (not quite sure what that means, and I'm not intrigued enough at the moment to look it up) is complete, and after a quick unofficial handwriting analysis it has been deemed....more than likely authentic.

Click to read more ...

Criterion Releasing 'Stagecoach' On May 25th

Very few movies have ever had the impact Stagecoach did. In short, it legitamized the western, firmly established John Wayne as a box office star, and launched the most important era in the prolific career of director John Ford. It's dated by today's standards, naturally, but put it side-by-side with another 70-year-old western and see which one distinguises itself.

We're fortunate that the Criterion Collection is adding Stagecoach to its fantastic library on May 25th. The film comes out as a new high- definition digital transfer, as well as a clear-as-a-bell soundtrack on the Blu-ray. We've got the full list of special edition features below. Ford's first western of the sound era, Stagecoach earned seven Oscar nominations, winning two. It's part of the National Film Registry and makes the AFI list of the best westerns ever. It's impossible to consider the eight films above it on that list without considering Stagecoach, particularly the Ford/Wayne film The Searchers, commonly acknowledged as the best western of all time.

Click to read more ...

Coen Brothers Cast Unknown Teen for 'True Grit'

Joel and Ethan Coen have filled out their principal cast for the upcoming remake/rebirth of True Grit. The western, famous for John Wayne's Oscar-winning portrayal of Rooster Cogburn (a character the Duke would revisit in an eponymous film a few years later), is going back to the original book for its direction, and that means a much stronger presence for a teenage actress.

The character, Mattie Ross, joins Cogburn in a search for her father's killer. Cogburn will be played by Best-Actor-in-waiting Jeff Bridges, while the murderer is Josh Brolin, who, like Bridges, is also reuniting with the Coen Brothers. I had thought Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, The Lovely Bones), but the Coens had a nationwide casting call to find Mattie. And now they have. Deadline reports that Hailee Steinfeld has nabbed the key role, and while she does have a few professional credits, they're probably nothing most of us have ever heard of. Most importantly, as Deadline notes, she already has "people," signing with the powerful ICM. It's a brave new world, isn't it?

Click to read more ...