I wonder if this movie will be used in future court cases and in what context. Would its use make us revisit the idea that "action movies and rap music" cause young adults to be violent?

I'm reminded of the post-Columbine media frenzy about video games and Marilyn Manson supposedly causing them to be violent. I'm really curious, especially if this movie is highly successful (at least in getting people to the theatres), about what its role is going to be in both its effect on The Movement and future legal action. On the one hand, this kind of "gateway media" (how many of us 20 somethings are too embarrassed to admit that Green Day's "Dookie" was our gateway into hundreds of other punk bands that wont get you laughed at?) might inflate The Movement if it becomes popular. A new form of Green Washing could evolve, and running the same way as punk, emo, harcore, and almost anything that was underground at one point, cash in on it, pacify it, cause divisions between the those who "saw them open for ______, before they got big and sold out", and in effect co-opt resistance, watching it recede into a benign state.

I maybe took this music analogy too far. But how many other semi-destructive resistance cultures have been co-opted and sold off to the highest bidder? Marijuana paraf, Che T-shirts, skateboarding, punk rock. I could see it being possible that a movie like this could propel a generation of 12-24 year olds to all of a sudden take notice, and having positive or negative effects. But I see more negative.

Regardless, we already know that "the book was better than the movie".

At best, I think the movie MIGHT start a few conversations about these issues...But I don't think it will cause mass "copy cat" type actions anymore than other similar-themed movies did. V For Vendetta, The Matrix, and Fight Club all had similar anti-government/anti-civilization themes, and the most that happened was that jocks saw fight club and ignored everything other than the fighting in basements.

I first wrote that this will probably be the worst movie of whatever comes out, then i followed the link. Elisabeth Shue, as Bonnie I presume--that could be interesting. Goodman's gotta be one of the slimy folks, but which side will Nicholson be on?

Nicholson plays the bad guy very well so he must be one of the ecoterrorist.

reply "At best, I think the movie MIGHT start a few conversations about these issues…But I don’t think it will cause mass “copy cat” type actions anymore than other similar-themed movies did. V For Vendetta, The Matrix, and Fight Club all had similar anti-government/anti-civilization themes, and the most that happened was that jocks saw fight club and ignored everything other than the fighting in basements."

but yet we all know and have these movies memorised, i think that we all have that slimy feeling when it comes to major media destroying what we hold sacred, but in the end it was major media that spread the ideals to us....as always the amount of kids who mimic the behavior isnt massive, but it pushes the movement forward...and its always nice to see a movie that supports what we beleve in...steal the film off mininova

I'm keeping an open mind, though this "should" have been an indie film. Elisabeth Shue as Bonnie is SO WRONG. But, she's a good actress (see Leaving Las Vegas) so it might not be TOO much of a train wreck.

Lame...another lame attempt by hollywood. I'm not surprised that Cath is the director - she is a vegetarian - I am angered by Matthew McConaughey as the lead because he's "all about the beef" and has done ad campaigns for them, yuck! Boo Matt we don't want you!

Joe, you sneaky devil, you. It's been like 2 weeks since you've posted here....I stopped playing the "what would Joe say" game, and now you're back.
For anyone who forgot, at the moment I'm riding a dismal 50/50 average...But Joe's back from vacation now, so hopefully I can redeem myself.

Eternal vigilance, Lin!

2 weeks of back country research is hardly a vacation. I will have to look at the old post and see where you are wrong and correct you but I don't have time right now.

Good to have you back Joe...This site isn't quite the same without you.
I know some people are eagerly anticipating the score so here it is...I guessed the "I'll have to look up all the stuff you were wrong about and correct you" line pretty dead on. The "hardly a vacation" thing I had, but I had predicted it was some sort of work related injury, which I assume happens all the time with FBI agents.
So all in all, I guess I got one part right and one part wrong.....so that evens itself out and I'm still at 50%.

A long time ago I heard that Robert Redford owned the rights and wanted to play the mormon river pilot Seldom Seen Smith but the fear of a wave of destruction across the west, like after the book was published, stopped him.

Twilight is not the only movie the director has helmed. She also did Lords of Dogtown, which was a very well made, compelling film. Reading an interview with her from a couple years ago, she sounds very sympathetic to the cause, and I believe she even referred to the characters as more like patriots than terrorists. Google it, the interview is easy enough to find. You know I normally adore your stuff, Will, but I think you're a little off base on parts of this one.

Hey Kristen,

While I'm no fan of Matt, I wonder what being vegetarian has to do with the actors, directors, or the book itself? George Hayduke was an unapologetic asshole who tore through anything he could get his hands on, flesh or otherwise. And that's why we love him. I mean, all the characters in the book had lifestyle traits that would be appalling to your typical prius-driving, green energy credit buying, EMS card holding, Sierra Club defending, self-righteous vegan. And, again, that's why we love them. They're fallible and, thanks to that, real. Their actions outweighed their lifestyles.

As someone who grew up in that culture, in that territory and at that exact age worshipping the subjects of that movie, I felt that "the Lords of Dog Town" was a bit tone deaf and a definitely superfluous follow-up to the amazing Dog Town documentary that it followed. I fear that Hardwicke will do far worse damage to my current anti-heroes. There was a chance to make a decent counterculture movie out of this back when Redford owned the option but as others have commented, chances are slim to none that the studios will allow a movie to be made where the destruction of corporate property is heroic and just. The fact that William Goldman was working on the script should mean it is not as hackneyed as the horrible dialogue in Lords of Dog Town but just like the film version of Abbey's friend, John Nichols' "the Milagro Beanfield War" this will probably won't look like what the faithful envision. I sincerely hope that this effort joins the stack of unmade MWG scripts that according to Ken Sanders, are archived at the University of Arizona.

By the way, they plan to film this in New Mexico, not Utah.

For those interested in Abbey and film, track down the 1962 Kirk Douglas adaptation of the Brave Cowboy - Lonely are the Brave, which was allegedly Douglas' favorite work. Explicit references to anarchism are excised, but it's cool as a cowboy anti-hero kind of flick.

I'm disappointed in McConaughey as Hayduke, if that's the case. He would make a fine Seldom Seen Smith, though. Hayduke is short, dark, and hairy, not blonde and buffed. Goodman, I believe, will be playing Bishop Dudley Love, and is well-suited for that role. Nicholson, I suspect, will play Jack Burns. Normally, I would be happy with Goldman's participation, but did anyone see "Dreamcatchers"?

Cool blog. I found it looking for info on the MWG movie.

fyi, I picked up "Lonely are the Brave" at COSTCO today! Uncle Ed would shit.
And my 7-11 is selling Adbusters. Go figure.

Hmm. I don't know if I've ever had such mixed feelings upon hearing one of my treasured books was turning into a movie. High hopes for now...if people are experiencing Ed Abbey at the multiplex (like Fast Food Nation or Food Inc., despite their limitations) I can't see it being a bad thing.

I find it a bit disconcerting to see this book translated onto the big screen. Ironically Abbey himself was in talks with a studio a few years before he died in 1989 and of course it was never completed. I agree that casting the likes of McConaughy in the role of Hayduke may arguably be a tad lame though it could still remain in spirit of the character. Ultimately however the entire effort will likely be reduced to another co-opting of the anti-establishment making the characters appear more as comical and less as satirical.
For those who may not know, Abbey was anything but an 'environmentalist' but more of an anarchist ( in the Libertarian sense as per Bakunin or Kropotkin). I think he would find our use of the word terrorism today interesting in that it is only one more way the powers that be manipulate our perceptions - a terrorist nowadays is anyone who opposes the government outside the electoral process. That is indeed a very wide definition that would seem to include civil disobedience which becomes any citizen's last defense against corruption in power. The ability to resist is getting more and more difficult each day but it is done with subtlety. Abbey warned us that it behooves us all to be vigilant in this respect. We as a society have largely forgotten that. I only hope that the movie will get people reading more of Edward Abbey to get them thinking again rather swallowing the media's pap. Then perhaps we will have an intelligent discussion.

Just to remind everyone, Abbey was a big fan of movies and hoped that MWG would be made into one during his lifetime. He understood that screenplays diverge from the original text and somewhere, over the set, he is (in Charles Bowdens word...kinda) a turkey buzzard catching a thermal laughing his ass off. Long live Cactus Ed.

Everyone is forgetting one big aspect of the MWG's creedo...rule #1-
Nobody gets hurt. Hayduke sometimes forgets this but is quickly reminded by Doc. Terrorists kill, with no regard for human life. The protagonists are sabateurs (sp), which means property. The other was right about that this should be an indie film.
Hollywood and the corporations condone and keep churning out the violence, but hold such an aversion to state and corporate property damage.
I don't condone it either, but where do the real values lie?
What's more valuable? Life or property?
The fact that this book hasn't been made into a movie in 30 years illustrates the point.
RBH

do you think McConaughey will where a che guevara shirt at the premier?

Hoodoo Ya Love asks - "What’s more valuable? Life or property?"

"Oh my desert, yours is the only death I cannot bear." - by Richard Shelton, as Abbey reminded us.

Yea, everyone except mcconaughey and shue are perfect.
I think Dreyfus will do a great job as Sarvis.

Remember, in the book, Hayduke is 25, and Bonnie is 28.
Why are they casting 40-somethings for those roles?!?
Typical Hwood idiocy...

They should get "relative" unknowns for those two roles.
When I read the book, I was picturing John Belushi as Hayduke.
Someone like that would be perfect, but definitely not MM.

Also, I can't see how they are going to morph NM into Utah... CG? There taint nuthin like The Maze er any o' them there other chase scenes anywheres cept in Utah. I'm wondering if they were originally going to film in Utah, and the Mo's gave them the cold shoulder because of the films content, which doesn't mesh well with the dominant cultures "growth for growths sake" mentality.