‘Deadwood’ Actor On Upcoming Film’s Script: “The Maestro Has Topped Himself”

It’s been over a decade since David Milch’s Emmy Award-winning Western series “Deadwood” has been off the air. In the ensuing decade, Milch has moved on to other things, but fans have been clamoring for the creator to come back one last time and give the series some closure. And last month, it was announced that he was getting that opportunity, as HBO greenlit a “Deadwood” feature film.

READ MORE: HBO Gives Greenlight To ‘Deadwood’ Film For Spring 2019 Release

And now that the “Deadwood” film is a reality, and the cast and crew are beginning work on starting production soon, word is starting to leak out about how great this film might be. One of those people touting the potential greatness of the film is actor W. Earl Brown, who played Dan Dority on the show. In a series of tweets, Brown comes up short of calling the upcoming “Deadwood” film the greatest piece of art ever created, but he definitely thinks it’s going to be great.

“I just read the final draft. Holy. Shit. In the course of those two hours, my emotions ricocheted in every fucking direction: exhilaration to melancholy; hoots of joy to screams of despair. The Maestro has topped himself,” he tweeted. “As my eye scanned the page, I read the Dan Dority dialogue aloud. Milch’s words are like a scrumptious meal; the complexity of its flavors is something to savor.”

Brown continues, “The structure is essentially the same as the first version I read a year and a half ago, but the complexities of the relationships, the emotional peaks and depths, are all sharpened to a razor fine edge. It’s gut wrenching.”

Two things are readily apparent from these tweets. First, if this whole acting thing doesn’t work out for Brown, he has a career in film criticism, with all that flowery language. And second, it appears that the long wait for fans might actually have been worth it.

Now, as far as closure is concerned, as that’s the biggest question on “Deadwood” fans’ minds, the actor is less upfront. When asked if the film is a proper ending to the series, he tweeted, “’Final chapters – ‘closure’ – are creations of fiction. Ideas we create to soothe ourselves. Your closure is when you die. But Life… Life goes on. You die. Another lives. It don’t end’ ~ David Milch, spoken to me when I asked him that very question after DEADWOOD was cancelled.”

So there you have it. The film is actually happening, and it just might be great.

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