A listing on Production Weekly has Walter Hill’s long-gestating “St. Vincent” back in pre-production mode. I wouldn’t expect this one to shoot until much later in the year, or maybe even in 2026.
What’s most curious about this listing is that the cast seemingly now includes Samuel L. Jackson, Jim Caviezel and Al Pacino. Hill’s been trying to make this film for 20 years, and it almost went into production in 2010 with an ensemble that included Mickey Rourke, Billy Bob Thornton, Forrest Whitaker, Maria Bello and Pierce Brosnan.
“St. Vincent” is a crime thriller about a hitman who poses as a priest to get close to his next target, a disgraced gangster, turned FBI informant, who visits the church on a regular basis.
Hill, 84, one of the most underrated directors of the ‘70s and ‘80s, recently received a much-deserved accolade when the Writers Guild of America West honored him with its 2024 Laurel Award for Screenwriting Achievement.
Despite his films not being well-met at the time, he has been the subject of a great deal of reappraisal in the form of international retrospectives, a comprehensive critical study by Walter Chaw, and plenty of thoughtful analyses of his past work.
Quentin Tarantino, Edgar Wright, Guillermo del Toro, Nicolas Winding Refn and Sean Baker, have all acknowledged Hill’s influence on their work. Having started around the same time as Coppola, Scorsese and Spielberg, within the ‘70s New Hollywood movement, Hill is a lesser known name, but one steeped in a filmography that’s influenced many.
Hill’s managed to put together a strong filmography — tops for me are “The Long Riders,” “Hard Times,” “The Warriors,” and “The Driver.” Not too far behind: “48 hrs,” “Southern Comfort,” and “Streets of Fire.” His last film was 2022’s “Dead For A Dollar,” which premiered at the Venice Film Festival to mixed reviews.