Every time Ian McShane gets cornered for an interview someone asks him about a Deadwood movie. It's been going on ever since HBO canceled the cult favorite Western after only three seasons in 2006. The last we heard was that creator David Milch had turned in a script to the network, and now McShane has a further update that should make fans happy. He tells Variety...
“There are signs that HBO are quite keen to make it. They’ve got the script. It’s when they’ll make an offer and when we can fit it in. We probably won’t start ‘American Gods’ until probably the end of the year or early next year, so there’s a window when we can do ‘Deadwood,’ but they need to get everybody together. I mean all the characters that David [Milch] wants to put in the show. I’m probably going to have breakfast with him later this week. But no, they’re keen to do it, and I’m sure it would seem not only artistically a perfect time to do it but also commercially because there’s always been a revised interested in ‘Deadwood’. It went off the air far too soon for all the reasons you say, but that’s a long time ago. It seems like a two hour film would be a nice thing for all the people that want to see it and all of us who were deprived of the gig too early.”
It's at least a positive sign that HBO has gone this far with it. The problem is going to be getting that huge cast back together, many of whom have jumped to bigger and better things. However long the wait may be, to me it'll be worth it if we get a final showdown between Sheriff Bullock (Timothy Olyphant) and McShane's Al Swearengen.
