Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin to star in “True Grit” remake

Posted by brandy

on October 29, 2009M at 2:35 pm

john wayne in true grit 2

John Wayne won an Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn in 1969’s “True Grit.”

From left, Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon and Josh Brolin (Associated Press photos)

Matt Damon and Josh Brolin are in talks to star in the Coen brothers’ remake of the John Wayne classic “True Grit,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Paramount Pictures and the Oscar-winning writer-director team are moving swiftly on their re-adaptation of the Charles Portis novel, the trade publication reports.

They’ve also cast Jeff Bridges to play the starring role in the remake, and the studio hopes get production going in spring.

The story follows a 14-year-old girl who accompanies two lawmen in the dangerous search for the man who killed her father.

Brolin would play the part of the murderer, Tom Chaney. Damon would take on the role of La Boeuf, a Texas Ranger who helps gruff U.S. marshal Rooster Cogburn track the outlaw across Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Glen Campbell played the part in the original film.

And Bridges will play Rooster Cogburn, the part for which Wayne won an Oscar. That’s hard for me to envision, particularly since Bridges’ last job with the Coens was playing iconic slacker Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski in 1998’s “The Big Lebowski.”

Brolin also has worked with the Coens before, playing Llewelyn Moss in their Oscar-winning film ”No Country for Old Men,” based on the Cormac McCarthy novel.

This would be Damon’s first outing with Joel and Ethan Coen.

Despite my initial knee-jerk reaction to what seems another unnecessary Hollywood remake, I’m trying to keep an open mind because the project has the Coen brothers at the helm.

In an exclusive interview, Ethan Coen told RottenTomatoes.com that their take on “True Grit” would stay more faithful to the “very odd book” than the 1969 Western.

“It’s partly a question of point-of-view” he said. “The book is entirely in the voice of the 14-year-old girl. That sort of tips the feeling of it over a certain way.

“I think it’s much funnier than the movie was so I think unfortunately they lost a lot of humour in both the situations and in her voice. It also ends differently than the movie did. You see the main character – the little girl – 25 years later when she’s an adult.”

With that said, it will be interesting to learn who the Coens will tap to play 14-year-old Mattie Ross. Kim Darby, who also played the wacky mom in 1985’s “Better Off Dead,” took on the role in the original film.

-BAM

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