Taylor Sheridan Set to Direct Western ‘Empire of the Summer Moon’

Taylor Sheridan is hot right now. The writer-turned-director-turned showrunner is responsible for the mega-popular “Yellowstone” and its two prequel shows, “1883” and “1923.” There is major demand for whatever he does.

It’s now been announced that Sheridan is set to direct an adaption of “Empire of the Summer Moon.” The story follows the historical account of the four-decade struggle between Comanche tribes and white settlers to control the American West.

I’m mixed when it comes to the works of Sheridan. His movies all encompass the same blueprint, they feel etched in screenwriting 101 tropes.

Sometimes it works wonders — “Sicario” was mostly driven by Denis Villeneuve’s pulse-pounding direction, but its sequel ‘Day of the Soldado’ was a total mess; Also, Sheridan’s “Hell or High Water” screenplay resulted in a fairly solid neo-western.

He’s directed three films: the 2011 horror film “Vile,” 2017’s “Wind River” and 2021’s Angelina Jolie starring “Those Who Wish Me Dead.” The strongest of the bunch is, by far, “Wind River,” which plays like a snowy neo-western.

There’s been some major critical resentment towards Sheridan’s recent work. Critics haven’t been kind to his recent work, as backlash has developed over “Yellowstone” — in fact, of the many anti-Yellowstone thinkpieces that have popped up in recent years, a New York Times article, criticizing the show as “conservative” and “populist,” was quite absurd. And I’m not even a fan of the show.

On a recent episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast, Sheridan didn’t mince words on his opinion of critics: “There’s a lot of defiance in the way that I do it. It’s not surprising that critics hate [‘Yellowstone’] … They’re confounded by its success. They can’t get their minds around why it’s a success,” Sheridan said, referencing the New York Times piece and agreeing with Rogan that “critics are less relevant today than in any time in human history.”