Madeleine Stowe (yes, that Madeleine Stowe) once wrote a script called Unbound Captives that was so unbelievably fantastic, Fox offered her $5 million for it in 1993 as a project for Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe. She said no, because the studio made no promise of putting her in it. That's how hard it was to get decent female parts in those days.
Well, her insanity tenacity paid off, sort of. The movie is getting made, with Rachel Weisz playing the part she wrote for herself -- a woman whose husband is killed and two children kidnapped by a Comanche war party in 1859. Hugh Jackman (yes, that Hugh Jackman) will play the frontiersman who comes to her rescue. And Robert Pattinson will play a vampire who feeds upon members of the wagon train. No, just kidding -- he plays her son. And what of Stowe? She's directing:
"There are moments in life where you need to follow your heart. The script remained my singular focus," she told Variety. "But directing it myself wasn't something I ever dreamed of. [Producer Gil Netter] made me realize it when he said there isn't anyone who's going to make the movie you want to make."
It's an amazing story -- an allegory belonging in some Bizarro Hollywood about clinging to one's artistic integrity in the face of fleeting, if dazzlingly enormous, material gain. We just hope the 12 Monkeys star's directorial debut doesn't find itself beset by a string of Terry Gilliamesque misfortunes that turns the shoot into another Donner party, its cast of starving, freezing pioneers resorting to pit-roasting Pattinson in the slim hopes of surviving until wrap day. Sometimes $5 million is $5 million, and it's best not to take what's behind Door #2.
ยท Trio bound to Stowe's 'Captives' [Variety]