DJ Caruso Linked to Max Allan Collins' Black Hats

Pajiba (Semi) Exclusive: Wyatt Earp's Six Shooter Meets Al Capone's Tommy Gun

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (15)

I wouldn’t quite call this a Pajiba exclusive, because if you’re willing to dig deep enough, all of this information is available on the Interwebs; it just hasn’t been widely reported, which is odd given the name of the director and the compelling source material.

Granted, the project — called Black Hats — has been in development for nearly two years, which is reason enough to suggest it is languishing in development hell. But — and here’s where the exclusive part comes in — according to our inside source, we can confirm that the project is still alive. To what extent, we don’t know. But it’s certainly not dead, though it hasn’t been picked up by a studio (Jason Netter’s Kickstart Productions is still kicking it around).

What the hell am I talking about? The project, called Black Hats, comes from a Max Allan Collins’ novel of the same name (though it’s written under the pseudonym Patrick Culhane). Collins wrote the graphic novel that Road to Perdition is based on, and his Black Hats project has D.J. Caruso loosely attached, with his frequent collaborator, Carl Ellsworth (Disturbia, potentially Y: The Last Man) on scriptwriting duties.

Why is this project of interest? Because the fantastical concept is too damn good to overlook. Check this out:

In 1920, 70-year-old Wyatt Earp, who’s working as a private investigator in Los Angeles, is hired by Kate Elder, the widow of his best friend, Doc Holliday. Kate wants Wyatt to go to New York and help her speakeasy-owning son, John, who has fallen afoul of a local tough guy, the young Alphonse Capone

How cool is that? And it’s meant to be some sort of six-shooter meets Tommy gun showdown, pitting Wyatt Earp against Al Capone.

Will it actually be made? Who knows? D.J. Caruso already has The Art of Making Money, with Chris Pine attached, on the fast track. We know that’s going to be made. Beyond that, Caruso has three other projects, besides Black Hats, in development. But let’s just say: Y: The Last Man probably won’t get made anytime soon — it’s too big, and Shia LaBeouf, who was attached at one time, will probably be too old to play the part. That’s a few years down the road. The Defenders isn’t any further along in development than Black Hats (in fact, Caruso isn’t even officially attached to the Masi Oka (“Heroes”) project, or the other film he’s been linked to Dead Space (based on the video game)). Which is to say, at the end of the Art of Making Money tunnel, Black Hats seems to have just as good a chance at being made by Caruso than any of the other three, unless — of course — another project comes along between now and then. But given the source material and the conceit, Black Hats is the one I’d like to see.

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Comments

*crickets chirping*
Yeah, nobody cares.

Posted by: Lindsey with an 'e' at November 10, 2009 1:53 PM

I, for one, think this sounds cool as fuck

Posted by: dammitjanet at November 10, 2009 2:31 PM

Hell, that does sound cool.

Posted by: stardust (now with 100% less savant) at November 10, 2009 3:05 PM

Will see Black Hats twenty times in theater if he promises to keep LaBeouf FAR AWAY from Y: The Last Man.

Posted by: jM at November 10, 2009 3:19 PM

That sounds shitballs retarded. It was also dumb the first time it was made as Sunset with James Garner.

Also, since when is it news that a movie might get to the point where it might get made?

Posted by: JakesAlterEgo at November 10, 2009 3:31 PM

The only thing stupid about the premise is that...were that to happen...we already know the outcome.

Capone bitches. Capone.

Posted by: DeistBrawler at November 10, 2009 5:03 PM

JakesAlterEgo >> Hollywood's daily machinations are completely tied to what might get made. Deals come together. Deals fall apart. What reaches the theaters is like the tip of the metaphorical iceberg. And buzz about what might or might not get made has been one of the central elements of internet film discussion for the last ten years. I for one think it's a useful dialogue because perhaps it lets studios know what interests people.

Wyatt Earp vs. Al Capone sounds cool to me.

Posted by: DarthCorleone at November 10, 2009 5:05 PM

Do you honestly think that a studio gives a fuck about what you, DarthCorleone, respectable film watcher, thinks sounds cool? For every one of you, there are thousands who eagerly await the next movie-movie and a re-teaming of Kevin James and Will Smith.

My problem isn't that shit in the works is being covered, it's how it's phrased here. It hasn't been touched in two years....BUT IT'S NOT DEAD! To what extent it's not dead we don't know...

This just reads like a chance for Pajiba to slap an exclusive on something. This reads like Nikki Finke. There is no way that this article can be wrong.

Posted by: JakesAlterEgo at November 10, 2009 5:29 PM

There's only one actor old enough with the chops to pull off a septuagenarian Wyatt Earp: Clint Eastwood.

Unfortunately he's got too much self-respect and art-flick cred to do this heap of Hollywood shit-shavings.

Posted by: Neodiogenes at November 10, 2009 5:38 PM

Jakes >> You make a fair point on the viability of this particular project based on what is stated here. And you're also right that no one in Hollywood with any degree of power gives a damn what I alone think.

I disagree, though, that generating discussion and buzz on the web in order to encourage (or discourage) prospective projects is a futile endeavor. This internet is no small thing when it comes to driving opinions, even in the face of the masses who might eagerly eat up the next rubber-stamped Movie Movie. Sure, we can roll over and let the bar be lowered. Or maybe if we show that we have enough support behind us (i.e., not just "DarthCorleone") for relatively innovative and intelligent storytelling, some of it could actually get made.

Posted by: DarthCorleone at November 10, 2009 5:51 PM

God, when I first read the title of the post, I thought it said David Caruso. *shudder*

Posted by: Nadha at November 10, 2009 6:49 PM

I just think you completely overestimate the number of people on the internet that aren't retarded. Where was the last HUGE internet groundswell for a film? Watchmen? Snakes on a Plane? The internet is a grand and wondrous thing, yes. But not for giving smart people any sort of voice within the film industry. Other than Pajiba and Roger Ebert's columns, can you name a site that has any sort of intelligent discussion (and in large enough numbers to be considered "a force") about films?

But again, my actual problem with this article is that it isn't anything. This reads as a press release. Where's the substance? Where's Prisco angry cursing about things that don't seem to need to be cursed at but are anyway? Where's SLW injecting an allegory about aliens into this shit? It's just...advertising.

Posted by: JakesAlterEgo at November 10, 2009 6:55 PM

Jakes >> We can agree to disagree. I can't really name too many sites for you, because I don't frequent very many of them loyally. I do know, though, that film discussion on the internet is near ubiquitous with everyone's wanting everyone else to care about what their favorite films from 1982 were, what the best single scene of teenage-angst in movie history is, etc. I've wasted plenty of time on that sort of online banter myself on Pajiba and at other places, and although I've encountered discourse that might be a waste of time, I've also been exposed to more stimulating conversations than I could possibly join. (Hell, every once in a while I'll even come across a thoughtful treatise on the IMDB message boards.) I don't think something has to be "HUGE" to have an effect, and I also don't think any given groundswell should be discounted because it isn't HUGE yet.

If anything, I think there's more than enough amateur opinion out on the internet to run a fairly successful studio that does not cater to the lowest common denominator. Perhaps the problem in generating any sort of useful directive is that it's too fragmented. Perhaps there's even a vacuum and place for that "force." I don't know. I'm just saying that I'm not willing to give up the ship. Do the masses flock to the Movie Movies because they have shitty taste, or do they flock to them because that's what the studios shovel out and support with a marketing blitz reminding the masses to see them? I think it's a vicious circle, and the actual answer lies somewhere in between. It is possible to shift cultural tastes, and if we can keep putting garbage in, can we expect anything but garbage out?

And again, I'll let your second point stand. But if my first point has any validity, than not every matter of discussion on this site need be of the scathing and bitchy variety. (But, yes, it's usually more entertaining when they are.)

Posted by: DarthCorleone at November 10, 2009 7:44 PM

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Posted by: Dustin Rowles at November 17, 2009 12:01 PM

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Posted by: Dustin Rowles at November 17, 2009 12:02 PM

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Pajiba (Semi) Exclusive: Wyatt Earp's Six Shooter Meets Al Capone's Tommy Gun

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