Jump to content

Deadwood


The Monkey

Recommended Posts

  • 7 months later...

Minor update, Milch has delivered the script to HBO.

Quote

Series creator David Milch’s “two-hour movie script has been delivered to HBO,” Ian McShane reveals to TVLine exclusively, before adding with a laugh, “If they don’t deliver [a finished product], blame them.” 

https://tvline.com/2017/04/18/deadwood-revival-movie-hbo-ian-mcshane-returns/

That sort of implies that McShane doesn't see his American God's role as an obstacle to getting this made.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, RumHam said:

Minor update, Milch has delivered the script to HBO.

https://tvline.com/2017/04/18/deadwood-revival-movie-hbo-ian-mcshane-returns/

That sort of implies that McShane doesn't see his American God's role as an obstacle to getting this made.

Thanks for that update, I was otherwise beginning to fear for this project! It would be a cruel blow if it didn't go ahead now that fans have their hopes up.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 months later...

I just finished watching Deadwood and absolutely loved it. I've seen detractors say that it's a bitter and grim show, but I actually found the portrayal of community as rather uplifting: there's something incredible about watching a bunch of people who don't like each other come together for the sake of their town. 

My favorite character was probably the Doc. He was the one holding the town together half the time, and if there's one good thing about the show being cancelled early, it's that we didn't have to watch him slowly get killed off in season four.

I find 90% of TV and movie romances to be uninteresting and/or forced, but I found Trixie and Sol's relationship surprisingly delightful to watch unfold. I think it worked as well as it did because they had very complementary personalities: Trixie was incredibly fiery and choleric, and Sol was generally collected and unfazed by it (which made the few times he did lose his temper that much more powerful, for both the audience and the characters). My one big complaint about season three would be that these characters were given so little to do -- Doc and Sol, mostly, but also Trixie until the penultimate episode. Al's obviously the heart and soul of the show, and Bullock is arguably the second-most important character, but a lot of time was spent on minor and new characters, which I found a bit tedious at times.

I also enjoyed Joanie and Jane's relationship, and I loved the two of them as individuals as well. (I've noticed that, despite never being one of the "advertised" characters when promoting the show, Joanie appears to have quite a following among fans). The one romance I didn't care for, surprisingly, was Alma and Bullock. And Alma's miscarriage felt like a bit of a cop-out on the screenwriters' part. 

I loved the way that they managed to make Jen's death so tragic. I've seen too many shows where red shirts are just discarded arbitrarily (I'm sure we can all think of one ;)) so it was really powerful seeing how distraught Johnny and Trixie were in response to her death. Even Al wanting to clean up her blood himself was a small sign of penance. 

As much as I wish that we had gotten another season of Deadwood, I'm a little wary about this movie. I'm not really sure this is the kind of story that can be concluded in two hours after more than a decade off the air (especially since Milch is the same person who claimed he couldn't conclude the story in six hours when he was offered a shortened season for what would have been season four). Most of the actors who've read the script have praised it to the skies, so I suppose that's a good sign. (Although hopefully when Paula Malcomson says it's a "big Valentine to Trixie and Al," [link below] she didn't mean that literally, because the idea of the plot focusing on some sort of romance between Trixie and her former pimp would basically be Deadwood jumping the shark for me).

http://tvline.com/2017/09/05/deadwood-movie-al-trixie-spoilers-hbo-revival/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

38 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

As much as I wish that we had gotten another season of Deadwood, I'm a little wary about this movie. I'm not really sure this is the kind of story that can be concluded in two hours after more than a decade off the air (especially since Milch is the same person who claimed he couldn't conclude the story in six hours when he was offered a shortened season for what would have been season four). Most of the actors who've read the script have praised it to the skies, so I suppose that's a good sign. (Although hopefully when Paula Malcomson says it's a "big Valentine to Trixie and Al," [link below] she didn't mean that literally, because the idea of the plot focusing on some sort of romance between Trixie and her former pimp would basically be Deadwood jumping the shark for me).

http://tvline.com/2017/09/05/deadwood-movie-al-trixie-spoilers-hbo-revival/

Such a great show. If the movie ever actually happens we all need to do a communal rewatch here.

I guess Milch has had 10 years to work on a meaner script so maybe his initial refusal to fit it in 6 hours has changed. To be honest I think it'd be hard for the original story (whatever it was) to be what the new film is about. While several of the actors don't actually look much older (the lucky sods) it's not the case for many of them (and some have sadly passed away). Surely the next story has to be set a couple of years down the line rather than be a direct continuation of the the last episode?

While the actorsare praising the script we should maybe have a little bit of caution. I can imagine many of the actors get caught up in the beauty of the dialogue and may not be judging the story as such (I'm sometimes query how good actors are at judging the story over their specific role). Although it's still a good sign even if that the dialogue is still spectacular.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/19/2017 at 2:17 PM, red snow said:

Such a great show. If the movie ever actually happens we all need to do a communal rewatch here.

I guess Milch has had 10 years to work on a meaner script so maybe his initial refusal to fit it in 6 hours has changed. To be honest I think it'd be hard for the original story (whatever it was) to be what the new film is about. While several of the actors don't actually look much older (the lucky sods) it's not the case for many of them (and some have sadly passed away). Surely the next story has to be set a couple of years down the line rather than be a direct continuation of the the last episode?

While the actorsare praising the script we should maybe have a little bit of caution. I can imagine many of the actors get caught up in the beauty of the dialogue and may not be judging the story as such (I'm sometimes query how good actors are at judging the story over their specific role). Although it's still a good sign even if that the dialogue is still spectacular.

Ditto on the rewatch. From what I've read, the script is placed ten years after season three (although I'm not sure what they'll end up doing about the fire, in that case). I would much rather they did the Gilmore Girls thing and release a few episodes on HBO as a way of wrapping up the story. I'm not sure why, but the idea of seeing Deadwood in theaters isn't as exciting for me as watching it on TV. Deadwood definitely had more of a slow-burn style of storytelling; I have a hard time seeing a full plot being condensed to two hours. 

I ran across an interview Kim Dickens did about a year ago where she talked about how Joanie had some great scenes with Cy in the script :( I guess there'll have to be revisions now.

You bring up a great point regarding the script. Aside from the fact that it's hard to distance yourself from your work, I also doubt that any of them would feel comfortable saying anything negative about something written by a man they clearly all have a lot of respect for. 

Cancelling Deadwood is definitely one of the worst decisions HBO ever made. (Although to be fair, it sounds like David Milch was as much of a problem there as HBO). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote

Cancelling Deadwood is definitely one of the worst decisions HBO ever made. (Although to be fair, it sounds like David Milch was as much as a problem there as HBO). 

Arguably yes, but Rome is neck and neck on this score.  What could have been - Deadwood, Rome, and Firefly, my triumvirate of disappointing early ends.

Great post Bard, Doc was my favorite character as well.  Brad Dourif played a favorite character of mine on the otherwise lamentable Star Trek Voyager, Lon Suder, and his arc was fantastic, probably the only good thing that came out of that series for me.  As Doc in Deadwood, Dourif did what IMO was his best work, and right from the first episode, he put on a clinic. 

I agree regarding a community rewatch, if by some miracle the Deadwood HBO film happens - I rate that as likely as getting Winds of Winter in 2018 - I think I'd enjoy a rewatch thread with all the talent that is here doing such things like Werthead and so on. 

I had just started my own re watch of Deadwood last week, I'm 1/2 way through the first season or so, it's a yearly event still to this day.  I get something new out of each episode, every time, even after seeing them all at least a 1/2 dozen times or more.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, SerHaHa said:

Arguably yes, but Rome is neck and neck on this score.  What could have been - Deadwood, Rome, and Firefly, my triumvirate of disappointing early ends.

Great post Bard, Doc was my favorite character as well.  Brad Dourif played a favorite character of mine on the otherwise lamentable Star Trek Voyager, Lon Suder, and his arc was fantastic, probably the only good thing that came out of that series for me.  As Doc in Deadwood, Dourif did what IMO was his best work, and right from the first episode, he put on a clinic. 

I agree regarding a community rewatch, if by some miracle the Deadwood HBO film happens - I rate that as likely as getting Winds of Winter in 2018 - I think I'd enjoy a rewatch thread with all the talent that is here doing such things like Werthead and so on. 

I had just started my own re watch of Deadwood last week, I'm 1/2 way through the first season or so, it's a yearly event still to this day.  I get something new out of each episode, every time, even after seeing them all at least a 1/2 dozen times or more.

A further series of Rome could have covered the 10-15 years leading up to the start of I, Claudius.  It would have been fun to see how the (no doubt lethal) rivalry between Livia and Atia played out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

For anyone who's interested, this one blogger did a rewatch of Deadwood a few years ago, and was able to get a few of the minor actors to add commentary along the way. At one point, W. Earl Brown (Dan Dority) put forth a theory that season three was a metaphor for Milch's feud with HBO. It's the sixth comment down, posted as Earl:

http://uproxx.com/sepinwall/programming-note-deadwood-review-delayed-again/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

32 minutes ago, Ramsay B. said:

^^^ Damn, heartbreaking to see how hurt Brown was about everything that happened(but not surprising). Interesting take nonetheless. I will be doing a rewatch soon with this in mind for season 3.

Yeah, it's clear that he put a lot of his heart and soul into the show, and that just about everyone involved in the show was stunned by the cancellation. It's also interesting how he mentioned that most of them thought there was going to be several more seasons of Deadwood filmed. Up until I read that, it sounded like there was only going to be one more season left. Even though Brown clearly thinks HBO was in the wrong here, it is a little mind-boggling that Milch was apparently so set on making John from Cincinnati right in that moment, when he was only halfway through his current (expensive) series. I'm also curious if Milch's reason for writing a Deadwood script has to do with his $17 million gambling debt. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 19/09/2017 at 8:35 PM, SerHaHa said:

Arguably yes, but Rome is neck and neck on this score.  What could have been - Deadwood, Rome, and Firefly, my triumvirate of disappointing early ends.

 

I still find it curious how Milch originally wanted "Deadwood" to be set in the death throes of the roman republic and the transition to the empire. I think he was interested in the idea of how "order" can be achieved by those who are essentially villainous eg Caesar and co and Augustus. But he discovered "Rome" was already in production so thought the Wild West would work as a substitute. Good news was that we got two great shows which sort of dealt with the same thing - although I don't think Bruno Heller had the same theme with "Rome" it still has that element at its core.

I like the Earl Brown post. I feel for the actor and didn't realise he wrote an episode. He makes a good point about how HBO shows traditionally grow over several seasons - look at "Sopranos" and today's "GOT". Rome and Deadwood could have become almost as successful if they'd been given a bit more time. Although in fairness those shows were ridiculously expensive for the time. GOT had a very tight budget while it was building its audience. I still have fun seeing how the CGI armies/hordes were 12 people on horseback in season 1. "Rome" and "Deadwood" were big productions from the very start. Maybe "Westworld" was a shift back to more expensive fare but it still had 10 episodes instead of the 12 of Rome/Deadwood.

1 hour ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

 Even though Brown clearly thinks HBO was in the wrong here, it is a little mind-boggling that Milch was apparently so set on making John from Cincinnati right in that moment, when he was only halfway through his current (expensive) series. I'm also curious if Milch's reason for writing a Deadwood script has to do with his $17 million gambling debt. 

I think his decision to quit "Deadwood" to get "John from Cincinnati" into production has a lot to with how he has a gambling debt. That's a bad gamble.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 9/19/2017 at 3:35 PM, SerHaHa said:

.

Great post Bard, Doc was my favorite character as well.  Brad Dourif played a favorite character of mine on the otherwise lamentable Star Trek Voyager, Lon Suder, and his arc was fantastic, probably the only good thing that came out of that series for me.  As Doc in Deadwood, Dourif did what IMO was his best work, and right from the first episode, he put on a clinic. 

Thanks. I've never seen Star Trek Voyager, but just from watching Deadwood, I can tell that he's a great actor. I'm surprised the Doc appeared so sparingly in the third season. I realize that Al and Bullock are the two "main" characters, but if you consider the amount of time we spent on the theater troupe, Hearst, Leon, Aunt Lou, Dan and Johnny, you would think they would have tried to do a bit more with some of the other main characters.

2 hours ago, red snow said:

I think his decision to quit "Deadwood" to get "John from Cincinnati" into production has a lot to with how he has a gambling debt. That's a bad gamble.

That's a great point. Luck was also apparently a bad gamble: both shows only lasted one season. At least with GRRM, Wildcards is actually somewhat commercially successful ;)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.
×
×
  • Create New...