A cheery bit of information from when I was off. Former Justified writer and executive producer Chris Provenzano has inked a deal with AMC to bring another of Elmore Leonard's work to screen. Gunsights, based on Leonard's 1979 novel, will follow former friends and Calvary officers Brenden Early and Dana Moon as they take opposite sides of a mining conflict in 1893 Arizona. The core concept of former friends becoming enemies is what propelled Justified through six stellar seasons, so this should be material within Provenzano's (who also wrote the amazing Get Low, starring Bill Murray and Robert Duvall) comfort zone. And personally, I'm always up for 1) an adaptation of Leonard's work and b) a western. AMC is apparently keen to get the series going, as early as next year, and remains pretty much the only network (or studio) to have any success with westerns. Hell on Wheels is finishing, and an argument could be made for Walking dead owing as much to the western genre as anything more contemporary.
Back when Justified finished, I suggested 5 other of Elmore's books that should make their way to TV, and Gunsights wasn't on it because frankly I haven't read it. But I did suggest that one of his westerns, which many of his works were, and arguably all were in tone and style, shouldn't be dismissed. Justified was a western set in the modern day, but there is no reasons to think that a period western wouldn't work just as well. Clearly, Provenzano thinks so as well, as well as putting me to shame with digging into Elmore's bibliography. Nice pull, Chris. Now, get the job done
Via /Film.