Perhaps the most well-balanced career in Hollywood, Michael Fassbender oscillates from studio tentpoles (X-Men: Days of Future Past, Prometheus) to crazy studio dramas (The Counselor) to prestige offerings (12 Years a Slave) to smaller indies (Frank), even managing to fit a Terrence Malick feature in the mix. For one of his upcoming features of the smaller-scale variety he’ll be heading out west and today brings the first look.
Slow West reteams Fassbender with director John Maclean after working on two shorts together. Shot last fall and set in the 19th century, it follows the story of a teenager (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who is protected by Fassbender’s mysterious character while on the frontier. We’re certainly looking forward to it, so hopefully it crops up this fall. Coming from a fan site, check out the still below, followed by the official synopsis, along with a teaser from Fassbender and Maclean’s last collaboration, Pitch Black Heist.
Set at the end of the 19th Century, SLOW WEST is an American western filtered through the eyes of European filmmaking. The story centres on 17 year old Jay Cavendish (Kodi Smit-McPhee) who has travelled from Scotland to Colorado to be reunited with the woman with whom he is infatuated. He is quickly confronted by the dangers of the frontier and so teams up with a mysterious traveller named Silas (Michael Fassbender), who agrees to protect him for cash. Jay’s journey is fraught with danger, double-crossing and violence as he comes to realise that America is not easy on the innocent.
Expect Slow West on the fall festival circuit.