James Mangold is one fascinating filmmaker, one of those guys who seems to love directing outside of any set comfort zone. Hell, I don’t even know if the guy has a comfort zone. He’s done indie dramas, cop films, romantic comedies, and more recently went the pure Hollywood action movie route with the Tom Cruise actioner “Knight and Day”, a film that I personally enjoyed, but didn’t perform particularly well at the box office.
Mangold’s latest is “The Gunslinger”, a film that will take him back to the Western — though this one, unlike his remake of “3:10 to Yuma” which was a pure Western, will be set in modern times.
Mangold is directing for New Regency, based on a spec script by John Hlavin, who recently penned “Underworld 4″ with Kate Beckinsale. The film was originally announced over at Warner Bros. last year.
“The Gunslinger” will be a pure revenge film, much like the recent “Faster”, in which the lead is an ex-Texas Ranger who sets out to punish the men who killed his brother.
With that premise in mind, need I even say it? Timothy Olyphant FTW.
