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Mortensen to replace Costner in Dances with Wolves Sequel?
Kevin Costner’s most iconic role is likely Dances with Wolves. He has pushed out a pile of stinkers and despite that I still enjoy his movies. That being said, when a sequel to his epic frontier tale was in the works he was approached to reprise his role. And refused.
So who will play Dances with Wolves in the sequel based on the novel “The Holy Road”. Well eyes are turning towards Viggo Mortensen right now.
Director Simon Wincer (”The Man From Snowy River”, “Free Willy”) is on the search for a new ‘Dances with Wolves’ and the name we’ve heard that’s the favourite to play the role right now is Viggo Mortensen. If Mortensen can stand pulling himself away from David Cronenberg for a couple of months, the role might do him so good. I think he’d be rather super in it, too.
Now I think this is a bonehead move for Costner, who could really use a big hit right about now. But at the same time there are some issues that make me understand why he wouldnt.
The story takes place seven years after the events of Dances. Can you play a person 7 years older when you are nearly 20 years older?? In movies we tend to overlook these things, but this is a significant gap. Rumour has it that they are pursuing all of the original cast. Stands with a Fist (Pres Roslin on Battlestar Galactica) isn’t looking so young and firm anymore either. Shes aging well, but shes no spring chicken.
Sequels tend to ruin movies. It’s the Highlander syndrome. There should only be one. Dances with Wolves was such a great movie, but does anything more need to be told? Maybe Costner was attempting to avoid being tied to a trainwreck waiting to happen.
Do you want to see more from that story?
I am very torn. I loved Dances, it is one of my favorite films, and part of me would LOVE to see more…but, another part of me is fearful…
I wanted more “Matrix”…and we got two ass-awful sequels.
I wanted more “Men in Black”… we got a horrible sequel.
I wanted more “Star Wars” we got THREE big, steaming bags of shit with dollar signs on them…
So many awful sequels that taint the originals… Robocop 2/3/4?, Pirates OTC 2/3, Spiderman 3…
BUT, there have been some gems… Terminator 2, the new take on Batman, etc.
Rumors and here say. And if Costner isn’t directing… I’m very skeptical of this.
This won’t happen.
As big a success as DANCES WITH WOLVES was, over 15 years after the film I guess nobody wants to see a sequel. Nobody is interested. Nobody is interested in Kevin Costner anymore, nobody is interested in this story anymore. It’s just pointless. Besides, what would the sequel be about? There’s nothing to add to this story.
it is better to have a sequel than not at all. what’s the worst that can happen??? you dont see it cos its rubbish…so let them have a go at the sequel and then judge it when it comes out. viggo mortensen would be a perfect replacement should costner say no. if anything it should make the sequel more fresh
What’s the worst that can happen?
It won’t make any money, that’s what could happen.
You gotta see this from the perspective of the studio, Dan, otherwise you can justify every crap movie ever made.
mortensen is way too good for this. i hope it’s a lie or he comes to his senses. a history of violence was good. eastern promises to me was oscar worthy.
Simon Wincer eh? I could see Wincer directing a sequel…to Quigley Down Under. It didn’t do well, but I enjoyed that film from start to finish. Wincer also helmed various TV films with Tom Selleck later on, and who can forget Lonesome Dove?
Better yet, D.A.R.Y.L could get a sequel twenty three years later. How ’bout it, Mr. Wincer?
As for Dances II…
Rodney-please claify the following statements:
“I think this is a boneheaded move for Costner”
followed by-
“Maybe Costner was attempting to avoid being tied to a trainwreck waiting to happen”
Which is it? Either you think Costner’s dumb for saying no (he really isn’t) or he smart for saying no ( he really isn’t-more on that in a moment). I’d actually rather see him have sequels to the brilliant Open Range which he also directed, or Mr. Brooks which deserved a better box office fate. I wouldn’t mind him playing a “Yuri” living in Russia and his past catches up to him (No Way Out- 21 yrs later! Hah!)
But here’s where I think a sequel to Dances With Wolves could work- and why Costner refused.
At the end of the first movie, Dances and Stands had to leave the Sioux tribe because if they stayed, they put the tribe in more danger. So in this respect, the story of Dances With Wolves is told. Also, Costner won’t be directing, so that, to him, might feel weird. He won an Oscar for it- and regardless of his acting role, he simply won’t be back in the director’s chair on a sequel to a film he won an Oscar for. That’s not a slam on Simon Wincer. My point is, it just won’t seem right. There’s also the possibility that his schedule may not allow it. Or a combination of all the above.
Anyway, what has me concerned is that it is “seven years later”- odd, since Michael Blake’s novel Holy Road has events eleven years after the events. In the book, Dances/Dunbar goes after a group of white Rangers who kidnap Stands and one of his children. Blake is writing the script- and it appears someone told him seven instead of eleven :(
The novel is great- but I’m not so sure that a “movie sequel” is needed. I actually might be more interested in say, what happens to the Sioux eleven (or seven) years later. (Note: if we were to follow an “actual timeline” between films…plus the timeline shown in the first film itself… a major story point could be the tragic event at Wounded Knee.. or the events leading up to it…but that’s just me thinking…)
Darren, the “bonehead” comment was my knee jerk reaction. But after some consideration I figure that even though this might actually HELP Costner, I speculated on some reasons he might not have wanted on board.
Thats all.
It would have been a bonehead move to just jump on board a sequel to a classic movie that probably hasn’t been thought out and is going to suffer from ’sequel-itis’.
The author was a close friend of Viggo’s (he wrote another book called “Airman Mortensen”) and lived with Viggo and Exene when he wrote the original script for DWW. He wanted Viggo to play Dunbar in the original film, but off course Costner bought the rights and that was the end of that. Viggo isn’t a big fan of sequels or going backwards, so it is hard to see him doing this.
If it did happen he would be terrific — “Holy Road” is a very different story and not as compelling as “Dances With Wolves” so the script would have to be spectacular.
Mortensen is beyond this role. Do we need another Dances with Wolves? I really hope this is nonsense.
I am fucking shure Viggo will give this role a never forgotten character, he is the best actor for playing this, strike :-)
The Holy Road must be done. It should have been done years ago. The only thing i am concerned of, is THE REAL HISTORY. In the good old Dances With Wolves (i mean only the film, the book told about comanches) the indians were sioux, and they, correctly were speaking their own language. But… the Holy Road is quite straight history of the COMANCHES, and it will be bad mistake to put sioux in their place. So in The Holy Road, there MUST be comanches. And comanches are speaking different language than the sioux. Comanche speak caddo, sioux speak lakota. I don`t want to hear comanche speaking lakota. And i don`t want to see sioux in comanche history.
The idea of a sequel that doesn’t include Costner is ridiculous. What was so enthralling about Dances With Wolves was not just the scenery, but the story line….a true representation of Plains Indians and Manifest Destiny. Not all Indians are heroes; not all white people are insensitive chumps. That is the beauty of the original story and other stories like it—Last of the Mohicans, Roots, etc. that the storytellers work against stereotype and concentrate on truth telling. Rich, beautiful tapestries. And yes, the Lakota Sioux are NOT the comanches and vice versa. And how on earth will Wes Studi be used when his character dies in the end of Wolves?
The holy road takes place 13 years after Dances with the Wolves, not 7 years.