Movies
Bill Paxton Planned On Making Thriller ‘The Bottoms’ With Writer of ‘Frailty’
The film was set to adapt Joe R. Lansdale’s same-named novel.
Primarily known as an actor, Bill Paxton also made his mark as a pretty damn good filmmaker. He made his feature debut with 2001’s Frailty, which he also starred in; if it’s been a while since you’ve seen it, we strongly encourage you to make some time real soon to revisit. Paxton, at the time of his death, was prepping another horror film that will sadly never see the light of day.
Entertainment Weekly just wrote a piece about the project, sharing quotes Paxton provided to them in 2015. The film was penned by Frailty scribe Brent Hanley, and Paxton was to direct.
Paxton explained:
I got a great script called The Bottoms. It’s written by Brent Hanley [the screenwriter of Frailty]. It’s adapted from a great book by Joe Lansdale. He’s one of the great American writers, coming out of a Southern Gothic tradition. I’ve been involved with him now for six years developing The Bottoms. I brought Brent Hanley to the party because I knew it was right in Brent’s wheelhouse. He’s another Texas writer who really knows his noir stuff. I’m just a huge champion of Joe Lansdale’s and he’s been very loyal to me, because its really taken us a long time to put The Bottoms together. It’s about the best script I’ve ever had my hands on in terms of a real regional thriller, and a follow-up from the writer and director of Frailty.
I’m sure that if I can just make that movie, and make it well, with a good cast, at a decent budget, it is a bona fide classic.
Lansdale’s book, published in 2000, “takes place during the Great Depression in East Texas. Young Harry Crane discovers the mutilated body of a black woman that sets off a mystery involving rising violence and racism. Despite the efforts of law enforcement, the killing continues. Harry and his younger sister, Thomasina, fix their suspicions on a local horror legend, The Goat Man, who lives deep in the Big Thicket. Together they set out to solve the mystery of who the real killer is.”
How awesome would this have been? If Frailty was any indication, pretty awesome.
After pulling in $28 million at the worldwide box office this month, director (and star) Dev Patel’s critically acclaimed action-thriller Monkey Man is now available to watch at home.
You can rent Monkey Man for $19.99 or digitally purchase the film for $24.99!
Monkey Man is currently 88% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with Bloody Disgusting’s head critic Meagan Navarro awarding the film 4.5/5 stars in her review out of SXSW back in March.
Meagan raves, “While the violence onscreen is palpable and painful, it’s not just the exquisite fight choreography and thrilling action set pieces that set Monkey Man apart but also its political consciousness, unique narrative structure, and myth-making scale.”
“While Monkey Man pays tribute to all of the action genre’s greats, from the Indonesian action classics to Korean revenge cinema and even a John Wick joke or two, Dev Patel’s cultural spin and unique narrative structure leave behind all influences in the dust for new terrain,” Meagan’s review continues.
She adds, “Monkey Man presents Dev Patel as a new action hero, a tenacious underdog with a penetrating stare who bites, bludgeons, and stabs his way through bodies to gloriously bloody excess. More excitingly, the film introduces Patel as a strong visionary right out of the gate.”
Inspired by the legend of Hanuman, Monkey Man stars Patel as Kid, an anonymous young man who ekes out a meager living in an underground fight club where, night after night, wearing a gorilla mask, he is beaten bloody by more popular fighters for cash. After years of suppressed rage, Kid discovers a way to infiltrate the enclave of the city’s sinister elite. As his childhood trauma boils over, his mysteriously scarred hands unleash an explosive campaign of retribution to settle the score with the men who took everything from him.
Monkey Man is produced by Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions.
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