EXCLUSIVE: New Regency is adapting Pulitzer Prize winner Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian, widely considered one of the greatest works of American literature, as a feature film. John Hillcoat set to direct.
The film will be produced by New Regency, Black Bear Pictures’ Keith Redmon, and Hillcoat. McCarthy and his son, John Francis McCarthy, will serve as executive producers.
Published in 1985, the novel is an epic tale of the violence and depravity that attended America’s westward expansion, brilliantly subverting the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the Wild West. Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a 14-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into a nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving.
McCarthy’s novels are always something the industry has been drawn to going back to the Coen Brothers’ Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men adaptation as well as Hillcoat’s own adaptation of The Road, with this film marking a reunion for the two.
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Hillcoat most recently directed episodes of the Showtime limited series George & Tammy starring Jessica Chastain and Michael Shannon. He is represented by CAA, Anonymous Content and Black Bear Pictures. McCarthy is represented by CAA.
Difficult if not impossible to adapt. A miniseries would be better. Woody Harrelson would be good as The Judge if he were 6-8 inches taller. Perhaps shave Dennis Rodman and give him acting lessons.
I’m not holding my breath. It’s been attempted before and I think it’s unadaptable. You can’t cast Holden, you would have to go into the extent of the kid’s involvement which would limit his character and change it beyond repair. A lot of what is great about BM is that so much is left unsaid, unrevealed, unknown and unknowable. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to see a movie that does the source material justice. I just fear that it’s impossible.
Should really be a limited series.
I am very excited for this film. I think it would be great if Ethan Suplee played Judge Holden.
I think the only way this can be done is an 8 hr series. I mean, I’d love to see it, but I’m not convinced many can do it justice. Cinematography and score need to be absolutely bang on, I’d love to contribute to the music!
I bet Guy Pierce will get a role.