Written and directed by the Coen brothers and starring Jeff Bridges, Josh Brolin and Matt Damon. True Grit is an adaptation of the 1968 novel by Charles Portis which was previously adapted for film in 1969. Bridges will play U.S. Marshal Reuben J. “Rooster” Cogburn. The character was portrayed by John Wayne in the 1969 film, a performance which earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor.
Ethan Coen said that the film will be a more faithful adaptation of the novel than the 1969 version. “It’s partly a question of point-of-view. The book is entirely in the voice of the 14-year-old girl. That sort of tips the feeling of it over a certain way. I think the book is much funnier than the movie was so I think, unfortunately, they lost a lot of humour in both the situations and in her voice. It also ends differently than the movie did. You see the main character — the little girl — 25 years later when she’s an adult. Another way in which it’s a little bit different from the movie — and maybe this is just because of the time the movie was made — is that it’s a lot tougher and more violent than the movie reflects. Which is part of what’s interesting about it.”
True Grit is expected in UK cinemas on Friday 14th January 2011.
