John Carpenter was once known as the master of horror. He created the genre defining slasher Halloween, and arguably the greatest horror remake of all time in The Thing. He worked with huge stars such as Kurt Russell and Jeff Bridges. Many would argue that he was the best director of the 80s and, although still active, he has become a lot less prolific. In fact, his latest movie – The Ward – was his first feature in 9 years and was considered by most to be a huge disappointment.
Bearing that in mind, you would not be forgiven for being fairly indifferent at the news he has a new project in mind, as he isn’t the director he once was. However, this next project is one that he has been dreaming about for a long time. Speaking at the Fright Night Festival (Fangoria via Bleeding Cool), he had this to say:
“I got into this business to make Westerns, and I got tyepcast as a horror director after Halloween. My dream was to become, to have a career in directing movies so I went wherever they wanted me to go… I’m right now working on a little gothic Western, we’ll see if we can get it set up. It’s hard to sell Westerns these days, meaning it’s hard to raise money because they’re not real commercial.”
I’m surprised that he was never able to make a western at the height of his powers. It seems more unlikely that he’s going to get any substantial financial backing for such a project now, especially with the decline in demand for westerns. One thing that could get the project going is a star and Carpenter had somebody in mind:
“Amy Adams… she’s an unbelievable actress, what a talent. Yeah, I’d love to work with her.”
Should he be able to get her for the film, it could mean good things. But a wishlist is far from any sort of official confirmation. I for one would be ecstatic, should this mean a return to form for him. I’m a big fan of his earlier work and the prospects of a gothic western are very intriguing.
Are you a fan of John Carpenter’s work? Would you be interested in a gothic western from the director?