I’m guessing Aerosmith won’t be too happy about this title, but The Hollywood Reporter says that Natalie Portman is all set to star in a western for director Lynne Ramsay (We Need To Talk About Kevin) called Jane Got A Gun. Based on a Black List script (one of the best unproduced screenplays of the year), the story “centers on a woman whose outlaw husband returns home barely alive and riddled with bullet wounds. She is forced to reach out to an ex-lover and ask if he will help defend her farm when her husband’s gang eventually tracks him down to finish the job.” More below.
This sounds pretty fantastic to me, not only because I adore Natalie Portman and think she’s an excellent actress, but because it might signal a return of the modern western into popular consciousness again. Just yesterday I wrote about how Tom Cruise is attached to star in a remake of The Magnificent Seven, so with huge A-list talent like this showing interest in a genre that has struggled to connect with our tech-savvy, fast-paced modern audiences, I’m hoping this will open the door for a lot of other cool projects that wouldn’t have been considered before.
It’s also cool that Portman is trying to work with female directors, which are sadly a rare breed in today’s market. Portman was famously not pleased with Marvel when they eventually parted ways with potential Thor 2 director Patty Jenkins, so I’m really hoping Jane Got A Gun comes together quickly and is very successful for all involved. I also think the role of the ex-lover would be perfect for LOST and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol actor Josh Holloway, but that’s just fantasy casting on my part. Who else would you like to see alongside Portman in this western?
