I can’t say that I’m a fan of the work of John Hillcoat – The Proposition is a movie that’s just about griminess, and The Road is pretty bad – but it’s sad to see a filmmaker unable to get his next project made. Especially a filmmaker working in the lower middle of the budget spectrum. But that’s just what’s happened to Hillcoat’s next, an adaptation of The Wettest Country in the World, which was to lens in February. Hillcoat broke the news in his The Road production diaries printed in the Telegraph:
“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 – the birth of brand films such as Barbie, Monopoly: The Movie – who knows what’s next, Coca-Cola: The Movie?”
That dream all-star cast included Shia LaBeouf, Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Gosling.
Hillcoat is completely right about what’s happening to film today, by the way. It’s like the economy – where the middle class is being decimated – is reflected in Hollywood. There’s not much room for a guy trying to make a 60 million dollar film anymore.