"No, it's worth this." It's not played with a wink.
#True grit cast movie#
Q: One of the biggest laughs in the movie is the negotiation scene with Dakin Matthews because she's so direct. And the funny thing is, we looked all over - I say "we," really "they" looked all over - the United States and we ended up casting this girl from Los Angeles, essentially. it's a difficult combination to put together. To have that kind of calm and confidence. Q: To marry the ability to handle that language with the ability to seem resourceful and determined. It's something most 13-year-olds - when I say "most," I'm really talking about "almost all" - can't handle convincingly. It's a weird thing for an adult actor to negotiate that kind of language.
JC: In looking at all the different girls we looked at, and we only looked at a tiny fraction of the number the casting people looked at, you were always parsing, "She has this quality which is the character, but is it going to tip too far this way?"ĮC: I mean, 99 percent of the people we saw, which means 99.99 percent of the people the casting people saw, just couldn't even handle the language. She could have been cute, could have been too overbearing and repellent, there are so many ways to go wrong, yes. Q: If she were played as precious or obnoxious, it would have been death.ĮC: There are so many dangers. But we actually wondered whether there was a 13-, 14-year-old actor who could deliver the goods, because if you don't have one, yes indeed, you don't have a movie (laughs). It's well and good as a conceit for a novel, where you don't have to supply the physical being creating that voice. Frankly, we were wondering if there were a person out there, who existed, who could play this part.
Q: Mattie could sink the movie if ill cast.ĮC: Yes! And we were aware of that when we started the casting process. I read some of them and I reread "True Grit" out loud to my son a few years ago, and that's when we started thinking about the possibility of doing another adaptation. I think we both read the book, I don't know, eight years ago - I think someone recommended Portis to Ethan and he read all the books.
It's such a strong and funny voice, and so unusual. Joel Coen: I think we were both so drawn by the voice of the 14-year-old girl who narrates the novel. But you know, it's a very simple story with very vivid characters. I'd read the book and it presents itself as promising material for a movie - well, that's funny to say because they already made a movie of it. Q: Who came up with the idea of adapting the Portis, and did the other one take some convincing?Įthan Coen: Joel came up with the idea, but it didn't take any convincing. Something worked out: Young Hailee Steinfeld is racking up awards nominations for her performance and, domestically, the film is already the Coens' highest-grossing to date. But it's not taking on beloved material, or riding into the usually desert-bleak box-office prospects of straight-up Westerns that Joel and Ethan Coen found most daunting: It was finding the actress who could embody the book's no-nonsense, all-intestinal-fortitude, 14-year-old heroine, Mattie Ross, while dealing with the script's rich but anachronistic language (which co-star Barry Pepper likened to "hillbilly Shakespeare"). Oh yeah, John Wayne was in that one, too. Writer-directors the Coen brothers are back with their version of "True Grit," starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon - that is, a new adaptation of the 1968 Charles Portis novel, not a remake of the 1969 Glen Campbell film based on it. Facebook Twitter Email In this film publicity image released by Paramount Pictures, directors Ethan Coen, left, Joel Coen, and actress Hailee Steinfeld are shown during the filming of "True Grit." Wilson Webb/AP
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