Filmmakers Insist The Book of Eli Is Not a Western
Posted 05.29.09 by reelz
Although it admittedly has a lot of the trappings of a classic western set in a sci-fi future -- a small western town, a saloon, gunfights, etc. -- filmmakers say that The Book of Eli is no cowboy flick. Co-Director Albert Hughes was quite emphatic about this point during a recent set visit by the crew at Sci-Fi Wire:
[It's] the thing that the studio has been scared of and Warner Brothers, even, like, "It's not a western, it's not a western, it's not a western," And it's not a western, because ... it is set in the West, but it's not from ... that time period.
Fair enough, but setting a western in the future is hardly unprecedented (think Firefly), and not necessarily a bad thing either. Even Hughes admits that in this project he was strongly influenced by Sergio Leone and had originally considered filming in Almeria, Spain, where the the Italian director shot his legendary spaghetti westerns. So what will it turn out to be then? A sci-fi apocalypse with a spaghetti-western accent perhaps?