A Snowstorm On The Unforgiven Set Meant Skirting Every Studio Rule
Warner Bros. By J. Gabriel Ware/Aug. 14, 2022 5:30 pm EST
1992’s “Unforgiven” often finds itself ranked highly on many best Western films of all time lists. Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood and set in the 1880s, the film follows William Munny (Eastwood), a retired gunslinger-turned-widowed father and farmer. He takes one final job to collect a bounty on the deaths of two unscrupulous cowboys placed on them by a group of sex workers after the men sliced up one their faces. The film, along with 1990’s “Dances with Wolves,” helped breathe new life into a genre that had practically been declared dead. It won Eastwood his first Oscars in his nearly 40-year movie career at the time, picking up the awards for Best Picture (just the third Western to do so), and for Best Director.
Before the Oscar glory, the script had an almost 30-year journey to production. According to Cinephilia and Beyond, “Blade Runner” co-writer David Webb Peoples penned the script back in ‘76, and Francis Ford Coppola optioned it, but years passed, and the legendary “Godfather” director failed to do anything with it. The script landed in Eastwood’s hands. He liked what he read and gained the rights from Coppola. He secured a distribution deal with Warner Bros. The movie was shot in 39 days, and the set for the fictional Western town Big Whiskey was built in the village of Longview in Alberta, Canada, about an hour drive south of Calgary. Production began in the fall, Eastwood’s preference for any Western. But when winter knocked at the door and threatened the final days of filming, Eastwood et al. devised a plan that skirted every studio rule.
Mother Nature is locked and loaded
Warner Bros.
According to an excerpt from a piece published in the now-defunct American film magazine Premiere (via Cinephilia and Beyond), the “Unforgiven” crew was about a month into shooting when, one Saturday evening on set, they learned local weather reports anticipated 12 inches of snow on Monday and freezing rain for the remainder of the week.
It was the worst timing because they were scheduled to have Sunday off and on Monday and Tuesday had planned to shoot the outside scene under the pine tree where the sex worker, Little Sue (Tara Frederick) rides in on her horse and hands Munny the cash reward for killing the two cowboys. There, she tells him the sheriff, Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), killed Munny’s friend and partner, Ned (Morgan Freeman). It’s a crucial scene. Professional and amateur screenwriters alike would recognize it as the must-have crisis moment that propels the protagonist into the final act of the story. In this case, it sends Munny back to Big Whiskey, where he annihilates Little Bill and his henchmen. The scene was far too important for Eastwood to pack up the crew and shoot it back home in the U.S., as he wanted Big Whiskey looming in the background. But he also wanted no snow visible in the scene. He was faced with quite the dilemma.
A Snowstorm On The Unforgiven Set Meant Skirting Every Studio Rule
Warner Bros.
By J. Gabriel Ware/Aug. 14, 2022 5:30 pm EST
1992’s “Unforgiven” often finds itself ranked highly on many best Western films of all time lists. Directed by and starring Clint Eastwood and set in the 1880s, the film follows William Munny (Eastwood), a retired gunslinger-turned-widowed father and farmer. He takes one final job to collect a bounty on the deaths of two unscrupulous cowboys placed on them by a group of sex workers after the men sliced up one their faces. The film, along with 1990’s “Dances with Wolves,” helped breathe new life into a genre that had practically been declared dead. It won Eastwood his first Oscars in his nearly 40-year movie career at the time, picking up the awards for Best Picture (just the third Western to do so), and for Best Director.
Before the Oscar glory, the script had an almost 30-year journey to production. According to Cinephilia and Beyond, “Blade Runner” co-writer David Webb Peoples penned the script back in ‘76, and Francis Ford Coppola optioned it, but years passed, and the legendary “Godfather” director failed to do anything with it. The script landed in Eastwood’s hands. He liked what he read and gained the rights from Coppola. He secured a distribution deal with Warner Bros. The movie was shot in 39 days, and the set for the fictional Western town Big Whiskey was built in the village of Longview in Alberta, Canada, about an hour drive south of Calgary. Production began in the fall, Eastwood’s preference for any Western. But when winter knocked at the door and threatened the final days of filming, Eastwood et al. devised a plan that skirted every studio rule.
Before the Oscar glory, the script had an almost 30-year journey to production. According to Cinephilia and Beyond, “Blade Runner” co-writer David Webb Peoples penned the script back in ‘76, and Francis Ford Coppola optioned it, but years passed, and the legendary “Godfather” director failed to do anything with it. The script landed in Eastwood’s hands. He liked what he read and gained the rights from Coppola. He secured a distribution deal with Warner Bros.
The movie was shot in 39 days, and the set for the fictional Western town Big Whiskey was built in the village of Longview in Alberta, Canada, about an hour drive south of Calgary. Production began in the fall, Eastwood’s preference for any Western. But when winter knocked at the door and threatened the final days of filming, Eastwood et al. devised a plan that skirted every studio rule.
Mother Nature is locked and loaded
According to an excerpt from a piece published in the now-defunct American film magazine Premiere (via Cinephilia and Beyond), the “Unforgiven” crew was about a month into shooting when, one Saturday evening on set, they learned local weather reports anticipated 12 inches of snow on Monday and freezing rain for the remainder of the week.
It was the worst timing because they were scheduled to have Sunday off and on Monday and Tuesday had planned to shoot the outside scene under the pine tree where the sex worker, Little Sue (Tara Frederick) rides in on her horse and hands Munny the cash reward for killing the two cowboys. There, she tells him the sheriff, Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), killed Munny’s friend and partner, Ned (Morgan Freeman). It’s a crucial scene. Professional and amateur screenwriters alike would recognize it as the must-have crisis moment that propels the protagonist into the final act of the story. In this case, it sends Munny back to Big Whiskey, where he annihilates Little Bill and his henchmen. The scene was far too important for Eastwood to pack up the crew and shoot it back home in the U.S., as he wanted Big Whiskey looming in the background. But he also wanted no snow visible in the scene. He was faced with quite the dilemma.
It was the worst timing because they were scheduled to have Sunday off and on Monday and Tuesday had planned to shoot the outside scene under the pine tree where the sex worker, Little Sue (Tara Frederick) rides in on her horse and hands Munny the cash reward for killing the two cowboys. There, she tells him the sheriff, Little Bill Daggett (Gene Hackman), killed Munny’s friend and partner, Ned (Morgan Freeman).
It’s a crucial scene. Professional and amateur screenwriters alike would recognize it as the must-have crisis moment that propels the protagonist into the final act of the story. In this case, it sends Munny back to Big Whiskey, where he annihilates Little Bill and his henchmen. The scene was far too important for Eastwood to pack up the crew and shoot it back home in the U.S., as he wanted Big Whiskey looming in the background. But he also wanted no snow visible in the scene. He was faced with quite the dilemma.
