Breitbart's Big Hollywood site offers this morsel for thought.

QuoteDavid Mamet, the celebrated playwright whose CBS series "The Unit" enjoyed a solid run, will return to the Tiffany Network for a reboot of "Have Gun Will Travel."

The show will revisit the popular western which ran from 1957-1963 and starred Richard Boone as the Paladin. Boone's character avoided violence whenever possible, but when pushed he would shove right back - and then some.

Mamet came out as a conservative recently, though it remains to be seen if any of his newly embraced ideology will find its way into the story.

http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Hollywood/2012/08/22/mamet-rebooting-have-gun-travel

Mamet bio = http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Mamet

I have a true love for the Old Time Radio version of H.G.W.T., and find it amusing that after all these years the TV show on DVD still commands new-series-release pricing.

But is it all that conservative? A good case can be made that it is---for at least Paladin, its star. The former Union Army officer charges huge prices in 1880s dollars for his various assignments, and lives in luxury at San Francisco's (mythical) Carlton Hotel. He likes beautiful women, fine cuisine, gambling, and (did I mention women?).

He also rarely fails---a lot like Mamet himself after winning Tony and Oscar nominations (or his script doctoring for Ronin, with DeNiro).

Let's hope they don't botch this one. Have Gun, Will Travel was (and remains) a thinking man's western, in some ways even superior to Gunsmoke (its main TV competition at that time). Guy Pierce would make an excellent Paladin (but they'll probably cast Will Smith or Ice-T).

That was one of my all time favorite westerns.
Much depends on who he chooses for Boone's part, Tom Selleck would work for me.

Quote from: Solar on August 23, 2012, 07:17:31 AM
That was one of my all time favorite westerns.
Much depends on who he chooses for Boone's part, Tom Selleck would work for me.

Too old and too costly. Josh Brolin is believable but not the gentleman type.

Dang. My software for Instant Casting Agent just cashed out. Can't think of ANYONE suitable from today's crop of kids. Nobody between films who can devote to a 13-episode trial run (and hope it goes to 22 and a 3-disk aftermarket DVD/Blu-Ray sale).

I wanna see Brisco County, Jr. revived, with Bruce Campbell. Just thought I'd add that.

Quote from: quiller on August 23, 2012, 10:52:08 PM
Too old and too costly. Josh Brolin is believable but not the gentleman type.

Dang. My software for Instant Casting Agent just cashed out. Can't think of ANYONE suitable from today's crop of kids. Nobody between films who can devote to a 13-episode trial run (and hope it goes to 22 and a 3-disk aftermarket DVD/Blu-Ray sale).

I wanna see Brisco County, Jr. revived, with Bruce Campbell. Just thought I'd add that.

Age is irrelevant, think 'Guns of Will Sonet", Walter Brennan pulled off that part quite well and he was much older that Seleck.
Keep in mind, the audience is in the same age group as a Seleck or someone else that could play the part of a wise man, using a kid to play smart, is IMO stupid.

Quote from: Solar on August 24, 2012, 06:04:07 AM
Age is irrelevant, think 'Guns of Will Sonet", Walter Brennan pulled off that part quite well and he was much older that Seleck.
Keep in mind, the audience is in the same age group as a Seleck or someone else that could play the part of a wise man, using a kid to play smart, is IMO stupid.

In the original, it was made clear at least three times in Season 1 alone that Paladin had been a Union Army officer, and that the show was opening in the years not very long after that war. I don't buy an older man in Selleck's age group (born, 1945) playing someone younger, and it's pushing events too far after the war if you want to use an older actor anyway.

At present Selleck has been busy starring in a different TV series (Blue Bloods on CBS-TV, the original H.G.W.T network).  It's eminently possible that they own the series rights (after a long battle with the original owner, Victor DeCosta, see note * below).

So it's not out of the question that they could kill Blue Bloods to shift him over --- but any show making it past Season 2 is unlikely to get that shabby a treatment. They'll aim for young adults and cast someone not more than about 40.

(* Trivia aside: CBS lost a court case over the series when retired rodeo star DeCosta proved in court he had used the Paladin name AND the knight's-piece calling-card as part of his act. To revive this TV series would require buying-out DeCosta's estate, or a substantial licensing fee.)

Um, excuse me. Here's a quote from the OP's source:

"Mamet came out as a conservative recently, though it remains to be seen if any of his newly embraced ideology will find its way into the story."

Is being a conservative something one has to "come out" as? Was Mamet a "closet conservative" before?

Is that where the narrative is going?

Quote from: tbone0106 on August 24, 2012, 08:32:41 PM
Um, excuse me. Here's a quote from the OP's source:

"Mamet came out as a conservative recently, though it remains to be seen if any of his newly embraced ideology will find its way into the story."

Is being a conservative something one has to "come out" as? Was Mamet a "closet conservative" before?

Is that where the narrative is going?

I would bet that in the bizarro world that is hollyweird, it probably is more difficult to admitt that you are conservative, than other types of "coming out".

Quote from: JustKari on August 24, 2012, 08:41:42 PM
I would bet that in the bizarro world that is hollyweird, it probably is more difficult to admitt that you are conservative, than other types of "coming out".

When Polanski can rape a 14-year-old and gets support from "le artistes," and a career can be ruined if political beliefs do not conform to extreme-left positions.....why, yes. Coming out is exactly the right phrase.