It's taking some time to get that much-hyped, big-screen Gunsmoke film pieced together, but if The LA Times is correct, CBS Films may have a hit on their hands. Gunsmoke, of course, first began as a radio cereal before eventually becoming a popular TV series around a Western hero trying to maintain law in a Kansas town full of unsavory characters.
They tell us that both Brad Pitt and Ryan Reynolds are circling the lead role of Marshall Matt Dillon, originally played by James Arness on the TV show for 20 years. The reason why folks like Pitt for the part is because they loved what he did with his role in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, proving there was a place for today's A-listers in Westerns. That said, even though there was a bit of a resurgence with the Western genre over the past two years, those types of films still aren't drawing enough people to theaters. CBS Films will need to find a way to make their Gunsmoke movie a bit more accessible to the general public if they want it to succeed, and bringing in either Brad Pitt or Ryan Reynolds may help do that.
The problem with Reynolds, who's also eyeing the same role, is that he's pretty busy dealing with The Green Lantern right now, as well as the hundreds of other projects being thrown his way. Pitt may be the way to go, but they'll have to find some kind of hook for audiences to wrap their heads around or else Gunsmoke will quite literally go up in smoke.
What do you think? Is there still an interest in Westerns, or is today's audience just not that into the genre?
