Untitled Ridley Scott Western

[Cremildo]

From The New Yorker:

Scott was on an enforced hiatus. In July, he’d been more than halfway through shooting “Gladiator 2,” on the island of Malta, when the actors’ strike halted production. But, unlike Napoleon during his exile on Elba, he wasn’t taking salt baths and stewing. He was busy preparing an extended cut of “Napoleon” for Apple, which produced and will stream the film. He’d been editing what he had of “Gladiator 2,” slated for next fall, and “reccing”—reconnoitering—locations for a Western. As he approaches ninety, Scott is not slowing down but speeding up.

[...] He asked an assistant for another espresso. He’d been busy. After finishing the extended cut of “Napoleon,” he started storyboarding the Western; he showed me pages of Ridleygrams, featuring a snowy fight scene.

[Monterey Jack]

Ridley Scott making a western...

[cheez avenger]

He was originally going to adapt Z. Craig Zahler's "Wraiths of the Broken Land" novel back in 2016, so I wonder if it's this finally getting off the ground now.

[Zivouhr]

An 1800s style west land film set in the snowy region brings to mind The Crazy Eight, which was kind of interesting.

Ridley still making any kind of movie at almost 90, definitely loves making movies. Liam Neeson I think is the same way with lots of movies per year. They don't settle down, but keep looking for the next project that inspires them in some way.

[mojohand]

Originally Posted by cheez avenger

He was originally going to adapt Z. Craig Zahler's "Wraiths of the Broken Land" novel back in 2016, so I wonder if it's this finally getting off the ground now.

That was one strange book. Would make a very interesting movie....

[unberechenbar]

Wow! Hope this gets a theatrical release.

[Just_Discovered_3D]

What was the last Western that was good?

I have some trepidation as Westerns have been largely "ironic" cheesefest films since Tombstone and, while it had some quality points to it, Yellowstone and 1883 (etc) might have put modern sensibilities and "Game of Thrones"-type salaciousness + morbidity into the minds of writers when they think of the Western genre now.

[principehomura]

Originally Posted by Just_Discovered_3D

What was the last Western that was good?

Deadwood: the Movie

[DR Herbert West]

Yes please!

[HipsterTrash]

Originally Posted by principehomura

Deadwood: the Movie

Try Old Henry.

[Cremildo]

If it's Wraiths of the Broken Land, which Jordan Ruimy suspects it is, I'll ask a mod to merge this thread with the one created by Akijama ages ago.

[the sordid sentinel]

That New Yorker article was a fantastic read. Thanks for the link Cremildo.

[wonderer99]

I tried to see if UNTITLED RIDLEY SCOTT WESTERN was an anagram of LAST ALIEN PREQUEL but its sadly not.

[OnlyJapantown]

Would be thrilled if this turns out to be the Zahler story, not only because Scott is an excellent fit for that kind of story but also because it might give Zahler some currency to get his projects off the ground.

[Cremildo]

Scott says the script is ready and being shopped around at studios.

[Cremildo]

How did we miss this?

In a November 2023 interview for The Spiegel, Scott said his western would be "about an Indian girl who becomes infected with measles. It was like the plague back then."

It doesn't seem to bear relation to Wraiths of a Broken Land.

[s2mikey]

Not my favorite genre but maybe Ridley has one more great film in him. Please get good writers or at least oversee what they're writing.

[Cremildo]

This project was going to be called Freewalkers. It isn't happening anymore.

Says costume designer Janty Yates:

It’s a film that’s not going to happen because it’s set in the snow, and it’s called Freewalkers. Basically, the snow went. By the time we prepped it, we would have been shooting in mid-summer. I don’t know what will happen. We shall see. I would love if it would happen because it’s such a gorgeous script.

[Cremildo]

Scott still very much wants to make a western. Whether he'll be able to make one, and if it'll be this one, no one knows.

Originally Posted by The Hollywood Reporter

His company is developing some projects it would love for Scott to personally tackle and has been specifically trying to help Scott fulfill his dream of directing a Western (over the years, Scott Free has developed Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian and, on the TV side, Hampton Sides’ Western epic Blood and Thunder, but neither was greenlit). “I’m a Western fanatic,” Scott says, “and I haven’t done that yet.”

[Cremildo]

In an interview for The Guardian, Scott talks about his ideal western:

Originally Posted by Ridley Scott

I want my western to be, pre-trains, pre-batwing saloon doors with cattle catchers. Where the force of nature is the biggest enemy you’ve got. It has to be tribal with Indigenous people. And we as the intruders are very interesting to them. So it’s got to be early 1829.