Malcolm McDowell, Mary Steenburgen, Bernadette Peters & James Paxton Board Adam Rifkin’s ‘Last Train To Fortune’
24.04.2023 - 20:33
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Golden Globe nominee Malcolm McDowell is saddling up with James Paxton, Bernadette Peters and Laura Marano for Adam Rifkin’s western Last Train to Fortune.
Last Train to Fortune also reteams McDowell with his former wife, Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen, the duo previously starring together in the 1979 sci-fi drama Time After Time and the 1983 Martin Ritt drama, Cross Creek.
In the pic, McDowell plays Cecil Peachtree, a stuffed shirt schoolmaster, who misses the last train to Fortune and meets outlaw Dooley (Paxton) at which point they strike a deal: The gunslinger will ride the book loving Cecil to Fortune in exchange for his teacher’s stipend awaiting him. Along the way there are gun fights, jail breaks, saloon gals and our mismatched heroes form an unlikely bond. The pic, which is produced by Michael Gerstein, Paxton, Matt Williams, Rifkin and Brad Wyman (the Oscar winning Charlize Theron drama Monster) is said to be in the spirit of True Grit, Butch & Sundance, and Once Upon a Time in the West.
Last Train to Fortune has a unique and poignant backstory. The western was written by Rifkin’s mother, Michele Rifkin, 37 years ago, and was intended to star the late Bill Paxton in the role of Dooley opposite McDowell. Frequent McDowell collaborator, Lindsay Anderson, was set to direct. Sadly, Anderson passed away before production was to begin. Cut to 2017, the four longtime friends, Rifkin, Wyman, McDowell were about to try again, this time with Rifkin at the helm, and Bill Paxton’s son, James, in for the role of Dooley.
Rifkin tells Deadline, “I say with utter confidence this is one of the most powerful performances Malcolm McDowell has given in his storied career. And James Paxton is a revelation.”
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