• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Paxton and Costner for "The Hatfields and McCoys"

Temis the Vorta

Temis the Vorta

Fleet Admiral
Admiral
And nobody is going to be saying "game over, man!"
The Hatfield-McCoy saga centers on “Devil” Anse Hatfield (Kevin Costner) and Randall McCoy (Bill Paxton). Close friends and comrades during the Civil War, they returned to their neighboring homes -- Hatfield in West Virginia, McCoy just across the Tug River border in Kentucky -- to increasing tensions, misunderstandings and resentments that soon exploded into all-out warfare between the families. As hostilities grew, friends, neighbors and outside forces joined the fight, bringing the two states to the brink of another Civil War.
Click to expand...
Sounds great. Here's hoping History Channel starts doing more actual history, both dramatized and documentary.

Does anyone know details about the Civil War origins of this feud? The article implies that both Hatfield and McCoy fought for the same side. Hatfield fought for the Confederacy but I can't find any reference to McCoy being the war at all. Most of the McCoy's fought for the Union (which no doubt contributed to the feud).
 
^ I'm sold.

But am I the only one surprised that Kevins Costner and Reynolds are working together again, after the fall-outs on Robin Hood and Waterworld? Now, there's a feud to rival any Western!
 
The only thing that makes stranger bedfellows than politics is show business.

I'm actually more surprised that Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton are doing a made for TV movie for, of all things, the history channel.
 
The History Channel is trying to get into more scripted TV development. They fell on their face with The Kennedys (which I guess was embarrassing?) but this time it sounds like they've got a winner.
 
Temis the Vorta said:
They fell on their face with The Kennedys (which I guess was embarrassing?)
Click to expand...

Given that the Kennedys is up for ten Emmy nominations, the only embarrassing aspect seems to be that the History Channel decided not to air it and, instead, sold it to another network:

  • Ten Emmy nominations offered sweet vindication to makers of "The Kennedys," the miniseries that was abruptly dropped last winter by the History channel before eventually being aired on the little-known ReelzChannel network.
    "It's a big vindication. Huge," said Joel Surnow, producer of the eight-part series that aired in the U.S. this spring.
    Surnow said he believed industry insiders who vote on Emmy nominations were sending a message on artistic freedom with the nominations, "in conjunction with the fact that they actually think the show is good."
    Along with a nomination for best TV movie or miniseries, three stars of the production were singled out for their work: Greg Kinnear, who played President John F. Kennedy, and Barry Pepper, who portrayed Robert Kennedy, were both nominated for best actor; Tom Wilkinson, who portrayed family patriarch Joseph Kennedy, received a supporting actor nomination.
    History made the series, which also starred Katie Holmes as the first lady, and it was the cable network's most expensive production ever. But in January, the network said after seeing the completed work that it was "not a fit."

But, in any event, my surprise was less at the idea of THC doing movies and more at the idea that Costner would be.
 
The miniseries category is so weak that they pretty much hoover up anything that qualifies. Downton Abbey was also nominated and I couldn't even finish that derivative snoozefest. Pillars of the Earth got a nomination and it was noticeably below the quality of HBO or Showtime, though pretty good for Starz.
 
Temis the Vorta said:
The miniseries category is so weak that they pretty much hoover up anything that qualifies.
Click to expand...

Mildred Pierce was some of the best TV I've seen this year.

The Kennedys was also very good, actually. Solid writing, strong range of performances. It's... very sold on the myth of the Kennedys, and pulls its punches and all that, but it was damn good TV.
 
the G-man said:
The only thing that makes stranger bedfellows than politics is show business.

I'm actually more surprised that Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton are doing a made for TV movie for, of all things, the history channel.
Click to expand...

I'm not all that surprised. Costner considered doing his lengthy Wyatt Earp movie as a tv miniseries but eventually opted for the big screen. And he's not as big a draw now as he was then, so perhaps this was the only way he could get a project like this made.
 
They've certainly locked down a solid cast of older-generation actors. I guess they could cast good looking nobodies for the younguns and still come out ahead. Might as well not blow the budget.
 
Didn't care for the music, but it looks interesting. Aside from the generic basics of the Hatfield\McCoy feud....most of what I know comes from a John The Balladeer story featuring "Devil" Anse, "Old Devlins Was A-Waiting".
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top