Earlier this year it was announced that the Coen brothers’ next project would be a new adaptation of the Charles Portis novel True Grit. Now Variety has informed us that the Coens will be reuniting with Jeff Bridges, who starred as “The Dude” in the cult favorite The Big Lebowski.
Originally adapted in 1969 as a starring vehicle for John Wayne, the story centers on U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn and another lawman tracking the killer of a 14 year-old girl’s father. Whereas the ’69 film told it from the point-of-view of Cogburn, the Coens’ adaptation will be closer to the source material, telling the story from the POV of the young girl.
Scott Rudin is producing the remake, who also had a sizable hand in the Coens’ No Country for Old Men.
Personally, I think Jeff Bridges is an interesting choice to fill the boots John Wayne once wore. Bridges is an actor like Ed Harris where I still question why he’s never won an Oscar. Quality work in The Contender and Starman, among others. Maybe this will be the rare case that two actors win an Oscar statuette for playing the same character. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Source: Variety