As it turns out, sometimes press junkets can be useful for more than rumors about “Alien” prequels and the next “Iron Man” movie. Jeff Wells was at the roundtables for the hotly-tipped Toronto hit “Get Low,” — which is finally set to hit theaters at the end of July– and Robert Duvall gave some info on another project that he’s involved with that, if it comes together, could be incredibly exciting.
The veteran actor is apparently set to appear in “The Hatfields and The McCoys,” a retelling of the legendary 19th century family feud, which has been written by Eric Roth (“Forrest Gump”), and has “Crazy Heart” director Scott Cooper attached to helm at Warner Brothers. Duvall told the assembled press that Cooper met with Brad Pitt last week, with the intention that Pitt would star, as well as produce through his company Plan B. Cooper would also be bringing along his “Crazy Heart” collaborator T-Bone Burnett, who would take charge of the film’s music.
For those who are unaware, the story follows the Hatfields, who lived on the Kentucky side of Tug Fork, and the McCoys, who lived on the West Virginia side. After Asa Harmon McCoy, who fought for the Union in the Civil War, was murdered, the Hatfields were suspected, although never convicted of any crime. 13 years later, a row over a pig again ended in murder, which escalated into a feud that claimed the lives of a dozen members of the two families over a decade, partly due to an affair between members of the rival families.
It’s a pretty extraordinary story, one that’s become part of American folklore, and we can’t quite believe it hasn’t had the big-screen treatment in recent years — a 1949 melodrama called “Roseanna McCoy” told the story of the star-crossed lovers, and there was a TV movie in 1979. The scope, timeframe and large cast would certainly prove a challenge, but with Roth set to write the script, we imagine they’re close to cracking it, and we’ve been looking forward to Cooper’s next project ever since we saw “Crazy Heart.”
Duvall suggests that Pitt would play “the main guy”; who that main guy is obviously depends on the approach that Roth takes, but our best guess is Randall McCoy, who lost two children in the infamous ‘New Year’s Night Massacre.’ The only stumbling block would appear to be Pitt’s schedule — he’s set to start shooting “Moneyball” in July, and also has been linked to the Greg Mottola romantic comedy “Important Artifacts…,” James Gray’s “The Lost City of Z,” and, if rumors are to be believed, David Fincher’s “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo,” all of which are expected to shoot in the next 12 months.
We sincerely hope that Pitt can find the room for this one — after all, the last time he starred in a film set around this time period, it resulted in one of the 21st century’s flat-out masterpieces so far, in the shape of “The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford.”