New reports suggest that Jim Sheridan will be writing and directing a reimagining of Mike Newell‘s 1992 directorial effort Into the West. The big change? Sheridan is switching out the original’s Ireland setting for that of the United States, while keeping many of the same themes as Newell’s original. While that probably sounds like a completely random thing for Sheridan to be doing, it turns out that he was one of the writers of the 1992 original in the first place so it’s more like he’s revisiting old material. [Screen Daily (via The Playlist)]
The 1992 original, which starred Gabriel Byrne and Ellen Barkin among others, followed two boys who run away from Dublin and venture into the countryside to recapture a white stallion given to them by their nomadic grandfather. There is no word on where Sheridan will set the story now that it has a North American setting, but just for fun, I’ll throw out “Waterloo, Iowa” as a suggestion. Why not? The fact that Sheridan is even taking it out of Ireland in the first place is a bit perplexing; the majority of his movies either take place in Ireland or deal with his Irish brethren. It seems to go against what has brought him success in the past.
And while it seems odd that Sheridan wants to update a film he co-wrote 20 years ago, it isn’t surprising given his recent career woes; after 2002’s In America which was critically adored and led to Oscar nominations for both Samantha Morton and Djimon Hounsou, he has had a bit of a slump resulting in the 50 Cent-starrer Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and more recently last year’s Dream House which Sheridan detested so much that he unsuccessfully lobbied the DGA to get his name taken off of it. Here’s hoping Into the West will rekindle some of the fire to his career; the man made My Left Foot and far as I’m concerned he deserves late career success based on that fact alone.
Have you see the original Into the West? Is Sheridan crazy for taking it out of Ireland, or worse yet, reimagining it in the first place?