Three time Oscar-nominated scribe John Logan is adapting National Book Award-winning author Cormac McCarthy’s novel Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West for the big screen for New Regency.
John Hillcoat, who previously adapted McCarthy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Road, will direct and produce along with Keith Redmon for New Regency.
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The sprawling novel is widely considered one of the greatest works of American literature. Published in 1985, Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West is an epic tale of the violence and depravity that attended America’s westward expansion which brilliantly subverts the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the Wild West. Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of a 14-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into a nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving. A central figure in the book is the enormous, pale, hairless Judge Holden, whom McCarthy described as a “grotesque patchwork of up-river Kurtz and Milton’s Satan.”
Literary critic Harold Bloom was among the book’s first proponents, calling it “sublime” and “worthy of Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick.” William Dalrymple – and many others – have held Blood Meridian up as “the great American novel.” However, Blood Meridian’s sprawling, unorthodox nature led many to consider it unfilmable.
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McCarthy’s son, John Francis McCarthy, will serve as EP and Cormac McCarthy, who died last year, will receive a posthumous EP credit.
Logan said: “Blood Meridian has been one of my favorite novels since first reading it in 1985.
It’s a majestic, beautiful and uncompromising book and I’m thrilled to be able to help bring Cormac
McCarthy’s dark masterpiece to the screen.”
Yariv Milchan, Chairman and CEO of New Regency, and Natalie Lehmann, President of Motion Pictures and Television, said, “Blood Meridian is one of the most revered novels in American literature, from one of the greatest writers. We knew we needed a very special talent to be able to adapt this seminal book and John Logan was our first choice. His prolific talent and remarkable track record consistently
demonstrate his ability to transform cherished stories and texts into cinematic accomplishments.”
Director and producer John Hillcoat added: “After years of dreaming and scheming about adapting
this great work into a movie, after years of discussing adaptation ideas with Cormac, we are excited
to have the writer John Logan weigh in with his passion and understanding of Cormac’s sensibility, to
help bring Blood Meridian the movie to fruition.”
John Francis McCarthy said: “It’s incredibly exciting to have John Logan on board. Very reassuring
in the seemingly long list of good news concerning what was originally such an intimidating
undertaking.” The Cormac McCarthy novel, No Country for Old Men, was adapted for the big screen by Joel and Ethan Coen and won four Oscars including Best Picture in 2008.
The CAA-repped Logan won the Tony Award for his play Red. He has been nominated for an Academy Award three times and has received the Golden Globe, WGA, BAFTA, and the Edgar Awards. His film work includes the highest grossing 007 movie of all-time Skyfall ($1.1 billion), The Aviator (Original Screenplay Oscar nom), Gladiator (Adapted Screenplay Oscar nom), Hugo (Adapted Screenplay Oscar nom) and Sweeney Todd.
Most recently, Logan wrote the screenplay for the upcoming Michael Jackson biopic, Michael, starring Jaafar Jackson and Colman Domingo.
Hillcoat is represented by CAA, Anonymous Content and Black Bear.
Upcoming for New Regency is Focus Features’ The Bikeriders, starring Austin Butler, Jodie Comer, and Tom Hardy; Steve McQueen’s Blitz, starring Saoirse Ronan at Apple TV+; and, through Double Agent, its joint venture with Black Bear, Alex Gibney’s Untitled Elon Musk documentary with HBO.