Yes, it had to happen and it’s logical: rappers remaking classic westerns for a new generation on the big screen, updating a western to modern times.
And who better to remake one of the best “adult” westerns of all, CBS’s Have Gun Will Travel (1957-1963) than Eminem? He has charisma, a built-in defiant persona — and he got great reviews for his last big star vehicle. The AP:
Eminem will return to the big screen in an updated version of the television Western “Have Gun – Will Travel.”
Paramount Pictures has extended an 18-month option on the property to develop it as a vehicle for the Detroit rapper, Daily Variety reported Tuesday. The show debuted on CBS in 1957 and ran until 1963.
Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers III, has committed to shoot the role and is excited about his latest opportunity, Interscope Records spokesman Dennis Dennehy told The Associated Press. Dennehy did not provide additional details.
The concept of the series will be updated to contemporary times and feature Eminem playing a bounty hunter, Daily Variety said.
Actually, rappers are naturals to remake Westerns, even in the old style.
For instance, who is better qualified to star in a remake of Gunsmoke than a rapper? Some of them have already had a lot of contact with it.
Perhaps on both ends of the gun.
But not all fit into that cheap, joke stereotype. And Eminem has that elusive quality called “star power,” making him an excellent “cross-over” talent. EOnline notes that this comes at a critical time for the rapper, personally and professionally:
The original TV western, starring Richard Boone, ran from 1957 to 1963 and was hugely popular. His black-clad bounty hunting hero carried a business card featuring the figure of a white chess knight–and bearing the transcription: “Have Gun Will Travel…Wire Paladin, San Francisco.”
The big-screen version will reportedly incorporate some elements from the show but will be revamped as a present-day action-adventure.
In a nod to Eminem’s rabid fan base Variety reports that filmmakers might tweak the story to take place in the rapper’s hometown of Detroit. An Oscar winner for Best Song for 8 Mile’s “Lose Yourself,” Eminem is also expected to contribute several original songs to the Have Gun Will Travel soundtrack.
The studio will develop the property via Interscope/Shady/Aftermath Films with Eminem’s manager, Paul Rosenberg, music producer Jimmy Iovine, and the rapper likely sharing producer credit.
Paramount is putting Have Gun Will Travel on the fast track and hopes to roll cameras within the coming months.
The film finds the hip-hop legend at a crossroads, both personally and professionally.
After spending a month in rehab last year to kick an addiction to prescription sleep medication, Eminem remarried and then filed for divorce yet again from on-off partner Kim Mathers.
What’ll be interesting is to see if this helps nudge Hollywood towards updated star vehicles using basic concepts of hugely successful former TV properties. CBS’s Have Gun Will Travel was famous for several things: (a) adult-oriented plots, (b) a hero who was something of a role model, (c) a leading actor who was one of the best, most serious actors on the tube during television’s early years.
Whirligig TV notes:
Dapper, black-clad Paladin was a high-priced gun-for-hire, although He was really a sort of troubleshooter/private lawman, often sent out into the wilds to places where there was little, if any law. But his strong sense of ethics soon established that he was no mere assassin. A man of morals and conscience, he would try to settle a dispute without violence whenever possible. And he occasionally would turn on his clients, if he felt they were in the wrong.
Many Hollywood remakes tend to take an old, successful idea, get a new cast, then try to capture some of the magic, which usually is impossible. The Eminem version of the show, updated to the present with some rap songs, could be interesting if it captures some of the “high concept” plot set ups and the original’s superior script quality. Have Gun Will Travel is one of the westerns that actually holds up quite well when viewed in the 21st century.
Will this film turn out to have some of the key elements of the or original? Or will it be just one more blood ‘n guts Hollywood product, using the name of an old series to rope in some of the older potential audience who might not otherwise see a movie starring a young rapper?
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.