david milch Tagged Articles at Cinematical

In a battle between East Coast gangsters and West Coast cowboys, a New York-based company has sided with the Mob. Erik has just posted about HBO's desire to make a movie based on The Sopranos, despite the reluctance of creator David Chase. However, HBO has shot down even the possibility of making any movies based on Deadwood, despite the past enthusiasm expressed by creator David Milch.

This might sound like old news. After all, Cinematical first broke the story last September that HBO had scrapped their plans to make two movies to wrap up the storylines explored in the show's three seasons. Fans -- and the actors themselves -- were not happy about the decision. HBO danced around it, with a publicist saying there were "no current plans." (Italics added.) In an effort to hammer the final nail in the coffin, Richard Pepler, co-president of HBO, now says "the likelihood of a Deadwood movie happening is slim to none," according to Zap2it. Michael Lombardo of HBO claims that talks never got past the "discussion stage." Milch, however, said in January 2007: "We have every intention of going forward."

The "slim to none" HBO statement may not be a big surprise, considering the two years that have passed since the unceremonious end of the show's third season, its setting in the Old West, and Deadwood's (relatively) low profile in modern pop culture, at least as compared to The Sopranos or Sex and the City.

Timothy Olyphant has been a scene-stealing character actor for years now (go see Go), but he seems poised to take his stardom to the next level. Of course, he's the villain in Live Free or Die Hard, which opens today and which I am still struggling to get excited about. He's got a major role in Kimberly Pierce's long-awaited follow-up to Boys Don't Cry -- Stop Loss, with Ryan Phillippe, Channing Tatum, and Jay Hernandez (Is that a movie or a Tiger Beat shoot?). He'll appear with the unreasonably attractive Jessica Alba in Bill, about a guy who mentors a rebellious teen. He also just signed on to play Agent 47 in Hitman, an adaptation of the much-loved video game (a new trailer for the film will play before LFODH). Even with all that going on, many still know him best from Deadwood, the wonderful HBO western drama that ran for three seasons, and was -- sigh -- taken off the air to make room for -- sigh -- John from Cincinnati. Deadwood's many fans (myself included) didn't take the cancellation well, but at least we've been able to calm ourselves with the news that creator David Milch planned to make Deadwood movies to give the series closure. Well, get ready to flip the freak out, Deadwoodians.

In an interview with comingsoon, Olyphant is asked about the status of the Deadwood films. And his response doesn't exactly inspire confidence: "I have no idea. There's been ongoing talk about those things for a long, long time. I, for better or worse, have the perspective of 'don't hold your breath.' My feeling is that the fact that show existed at all for as long as it did was a miracle of sorts. It was an incredible experience, and I'm very, very thankful, and as a fan of the show like everybody else, it would have been nice to see it end in a different way or have more life to it, but as far as I'm concerned, they don't owe me anything. It was a tremendous experience, I look at it that way. I walk away going, 'I must be a better actor because of that show.' Three years on TV is better than seven years on TV, you know?" So, ah...yeah. Pretty terrible news, huh? I suppose anything can happen, but I think it's becoming more and more likely that we're not going to see those movies. Really, HBO? Really, Milch? You replace my Deadwood with a show about a floating surfer, and now this?