Barry Levinson’s such a hit and miss guy. For every Diner, Rain Man or The Natural, we get a Toys, Sphere or Envy. Levinson currently has the Hollywood expose What Just Happened? (as reported here) shooting in March… and I’m optimistic, actually. Since we’ve just come off the stinky Man of the Year, track record indicates this one could be at least mildly enjoyable. If it’s not, however, there’s still hope.
Levinson has signed to direct Larry McMurty’s wagon train Western with the porntastic sounding title: Boone’s Lick. Lick already has Tom Hanks and Julianne Moore attached to star and with a screenplay written by Brokeback adapter Diana Ossana, I like the sound of things.
Boone’s Lick tells the tale of a broken family getting the hell out of Missouri and on the road to the hell called Wyoming. The family is lead by a resolute mother named Mary, who is intent on finding her philandering husband. Along the way, she’s accompanied by her brother-in-law, who, naturally, finds a strong woman of the West gets him all twitterpated. While traveling, the family is caught up in several harrowing circumstances which culminate in the historical, Indian delivered ass-kicking of the US Army via the Fetterman Massacre.
Filming is scheduled to start in the fall.