Is it guilt that is keeping Kevin Costner from returning for Holy Road, the sequel to Dances With Wolves? It certainly isn’t discerning taste in projects, as his filmography shows, so it must be that he feels bad for robbing Goodfellas with his mall mom friendly Western revisionist epic.
Holy Road, which picks up 12 years after the Oscar winning original and finds Mr. Wolves married to Stands With Fist and with his own den of cubs, while dealing with a new railroad – the titular Holy Road – encroaching on Comanche territory. The film will be an adaptation of the book of the same name, by original author Michael Blake. And yeah, Mr. Wolves is with the Comanche this time, living in the deserty southwest.
At any rate, the producers wanted Costner back for what might be his signature role, but the actor has consistently rebuffed them, Moviehole reports. Instead the producers are looking to Viggo Mortensen, who already lives and smells like he’s among the Indians.
It could be that part of Costner’s problem is that he isn’t directing this time. I’m not sure why he wasn’t asked back, but it could be because new director Simon Wincer is way cheaper. After all, he’s the guy who directed Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles. To be fair, he did also direct Lonesome Dove and a whole bunch of other Westerns for TV…. but they were all for TV. Without Costner in the lead, doesn’t this end up feeling like it should be a TV movie as well? Runs On HBO might be its Indian name.