Just before the release of John Hillcoat’s film The Road in early October 2009, rumors began to fly of the possible story and cast of his next project. The script which was to be titled The Promised Land is an adaptation of Matt Bondurant’s novel The Wettest County in the World. The film was scripted by Nick Cave and set to possibly star Shia LaBeouf, Ryan Gosling, and Amy Adams. In a recent interview published in the UK, Hillcoat states that the film is dead thanks to the “apocalypse” of the film industry. From a diary printed in the UK paper “The Telegraph” he writes:“My own new project – with a much-loved script by Nick Cave and a dream all-star cast – has fallen apart. The finance company that we began The Road with has also fallen apart, having to radically downsize to one remaining staff member. The great divide has begun, with only very low-budget films being made or huge 3-D franchise films.”
With news just hitting of James Cameron’s 3-D epic Avatar breaking the $1 Billion marker, it seems what Hillcoat is saying is right on. Until they can find some “new” and “cool” franchises, Hollywood is green lighting less productions or even going to the extent of canceling some films or putting them on hold. It’s a real shame that The Promised Land will never see the light of day. Apparently John has some more works in progress however, including an adaptation of Nick Cave’s latest novel The Death of Bunny Munro.
(via SlashFilm)
Do you think this mentioned Hollywood “divide” is actually occuring or are the smaller filmmakers just beginning to panic?