A few weeks ago, I mentioned how Steven Spielberg’s “Bullitt” reboot, which was supposed to star Bradley Cooper, was no longer happening. This had people asking me what Spielberg might tackle next after his upcoming “Disclosure Day” hits theaters this summer.
Here’s one possibility: back in 2022, Spielberg admitted that the one genre he hasn’t tackled yet in his career—but really wants to make—is a western. He’s a huge John Ford fan, and “The Searchers” is one of his very favorite movies. It made sense, and we’d all like to see that happen.
That possibility is now inching closer to reality. While interviewed by The Big Picture’s Sean Fennessy, at the SXSW Film Festival, Spielberg confirmed that he has a western in the works, but he can’t spill the details right now. Oh, and he’s pretty confident that it’ll be great.
Can’t reveal anything right now, but I have a western in development… and it kicks ass […] There will be horses. There will be guns. There will be no tropes, I can tell you that. There’s going to be no stereotypes.
The genre has been a defining influence on Spielberg—you can see it all over “The Fabelmans”—but it’s strange that he’s never really made one. The closest he’s come is probably 1989’s “The Last Crusade,” which definitely had elements of the western but didn’t fully embrace the genre.
Spielberg doesn’t really have anything coming up post–“Disclosure Day,” so maybe he’ll dip his hands into this western next. Who knows. He’s already tackled numerous genres over his career: horror, musical, adventure, war, science fiction, animation, action…
While we’re on the topic of Spielberg, in September I polled around 100 critics and asked them to name his best movies. It was a fascinating batch of results, with, inevitably, “Jaws” taking the top spot.