Hello. Do you like JUSTIFIED and THE PEOPLE WHO MADE JUSTIFIED and ADAPTATIONS OF WORKS BY ELMORE LEONARD? If so, there’s some excellent news for you today. AMC just signed former Justified executive producer Chris Provenzano to a big fancy overall deal, and one of the first projects on his to-do list is an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s Gunsights. Deadline has the details.
Considered Leonard’s final Western novel, Gunsights, set in 1893, centers on two tough men and friends, scout Dana Moon and Army man Brendan Early, who used to work together, including a mission chasing an Apache chief into Mexico. Now, the two former partners are on the opposite sides of a conflict between a mining company and a scattering of settlers on an Arizona mountainside: Apaches, Mexicans, and former 10th Cavalry regulars. Brendan is employed by the mining company attempting to drive the settlers out of their homes, while Dana is an Indian agent, defending them.
A good guy and bad guy who have a complicated relationship because they used to work together? Hang on. HANG ON. This is perfect! We can just cast Walton Goggins as the bad guy, Brendan Early, and Timothy Olyphant as the good guy, Dana Mo-… wait. We probably can’t get away with making the Native American scout a tall Southern white man in a jean jacket and cowboy hat, can we? Dammit. We were *thisclose*.
(Via Deadline)
