The Connection Between Ridley Scott’s Long-Delayed Western and Kurt Russell’s Bone Tomahawk

Few filmmakers have become so well-known in the last decade S. Craig Zahleran idiosyncratic artist known for pushing the boundaries of “extreme cinema.” Zahler definitely earned a lot of praise for his tough action thriller Brawl in cell block 99 and his police drama Pulled over concretebut it was his terrible debut, Bone tomahawk, This made him a filmmaker to keep an eye on. Previously Bone tomahawkZahler was a fairly well-known novelist and originally planned to adapt his western novel Spirits of the Broken Land. Although Zahler was unable to raise the necessary financial resources for his adaptation, Spirits of the Broken Land almost became a movie led by Ridley Scott.

What happened to the movie “Wraiths of the Broken Land”?

Spirits of the Broken Land is a horror western thriller It’s about a father and son who embark on a journey to track down two lost sisters trapped in a prostitution ring. During their journey, the family gathers a band of outlaws and ventures into the wastelands, where they encounter various villains. Spirits of the Broken Land certainly had the same dark tone and shocking horror elements found in many of Zahler’s films, making it a fitting story for him to adapt. However, since Zahler was an independent filmmaker, he did not have the resources necessary to do justice to the source material. Instead, Zahler shifted his focus Bone tomahawkwho shared a lot of DNA with his plans Spirits of the Broken Land. His 2015 directorial debut revolved around a respected sheriff (Patrick Wilson), working with an experienced lawyer (Kurt Russell), an experienced killer (Matthew Fox) and a town doctor (Richard Jenkins) to save his wife from a tribe of local cannibals who had kidnapped her.

Scott originally planned to do this Spirits of the Broken Land as his next film after that Alien: Covenant Instead, he decided to pursue true crime All the money in the world. The film was supposed to star Kevin Spacey as John Paul Getty, a notorious billionaire who refused to pay the ransom for his kidnapped grandson (Charlie Plummer). Scott was under pressure to complete the film as FX was set to begin broadcasting it Danny Boyle-staged miniseries Trustwho recounted the same events Donald Sutherland than the elder Getty. Additionally, Scott decided to reshoot scenes Christopher Plummer as Getty following the sexual misconduct allegations against Spacey. Scott has always been a filmmaker who worked quickly and Ghosts of a devastated land got lost in a sea of ​​projects trapped in development hell. Scott instead pushed forward the medieval epic The final duel and the biographical crime drama House of Gucciboth of which were released within a month of each other in fall 2021.

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Ridley Scott needs to make a western

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There is no other living filmmaker Who made more epics? as Scottas he has made films set during the Roman Empire (gladiator), medieval France (The final duel), the Crusades (Kingdom of Heaven), ancient Egypt (Exodus: Gods and Kings), the western expedition (1492: Conquest of Paradise), New York in the 1970s (American gangster) and the Iraq War (Body of lies). Surprisingly, Scott has never directed a Western before, but given his track record, it’s safe to assume he could make a very special film. While some critics have been more mixed about recent Scott films, e.g Napoleon And Gladiator IIThere is no denying that they look outstanding and have exceptional attention to detail.

It would be interesting to see Scott return to direct another scary movieas all of Zahler’s works have a strong element of body horror. Although he primarily focused on historical epics in the final decades of his career, Scott directed one of the greatest horror films with the original Foreigner. If he took on a horror western The Spirits of the Broken Landit would simultaneously bring Scott back to his roots and allow him to do something he’s never done before.

In the last days of the Old West, an elderly sheriff and his posse set out to save their town’s doctor from cannibalistic cave dwellers.

Release date

October 23, 2015

director

S. Craig Zahler

Duration

132 minutes

writer

S. Craig Zahler

studio

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Bone tomahawk is streaming on Netflix in the US

Watch on Netflix