AMC to Debut First Ever Original Movie Event
Starring Academy Award® Winner Robert Duvall,
Academy Award® Nominee Thomas Haden Church and
Emmy Award® Winner Greta Scacchi
Directed by Walter Hill
Premieres on June 24th and 25th at 8 PM ET/PT
NEW YORK, January 11, 2006 – From AMC comes the network's first ever original movie event, the adventure drama BROKEN TRAIL, executive produced by and starring Academy Award® winner Robert Duvall (Tender Mercies). The four-hour, two-part epic story will make its world premiere on AMC on June 24-25, 2006 at 8 PM ET/PT.
Academy Award®– nominated actor Thomas Haden Church (Sideways, Spider-Man 3) and Emmy Award® winner Greta Scacchi (Jefferson in Paris, The Player) co-star with Duvall; Stanley M. Brooks (Living with the Dead) and Rob Carliner (The Apostle) join Duvall as executive producers. The movie event is directed by legendary filmmaker and Emmy Award® winner Walter Hill (48 Hrs., Deadwood) and was written by Alan Geoffrion.
"I always say that the English have Shakespeare, the French have Moliere, and the Russians have Chekhov, but the Western is ours. It is America's 'Shakespeare,'" said BROKEN TRAIL star and executive producer Robert Duvall. "I look at this movie as the end of a kind of trilogy for me, starting with Lonesome Dove and Open Range."
"What moved me about the script is that the characters of Print and Harte are such hard men," observed BROKEN TRAIL star Thomas Haden Church. "They are put in extraordinary circumstances which they are wholly unequipped to handle. An unerring beam of salvation guides them to prevail against intolerable odds and pulls each character towards their destiny."
BROKEN TRAIL is set in the magnificent landscapes of the waning days in America's West at the close of the 19th century. Veteran cowboy Print Ritter (Robert Duvall) and his nephew Tom Harte (Thomas Haden Church) undertake an arduous 1,000-mile horse drive that takes a fateful turn. As they discover on the trail, the most important journey is the one that takes place inside a person.
When his sister dies and leaves him all her land and livestock, Print Ritter comes up with a plan to give his nephew Tom Harte a better chance in life. He buys five hundred horses and they embark on a journey from Eastern Oregon to Sheridan, Wyoming, hoping to make their fortune by selling the herd to the Moncrieffes, who are buying horses for the army. It is a bold step and not without risk.
After several weeks on the trail, Ritter and Harte cross paths with a corrupt trafficker taking five innocent Chinese girls to a mining camp, where they will be forced to serve as prostitutes. The girls were sold as servants by their families in mainland China and speak only Mandarin. They do not know the fate that awaits them in their new land.
Ritter and Harte rescue the strange young women from their tragic fate, but doing so slows down the horse drive and puts their lives in danger. As they face the consequences of their decision, they begin to realize the true strength they possess. As the group negotiates the treacherous road to safety and redemption, they reach out to each other across the cultural divide and discover an unexpected reward.
BROKEN TRAIL is executive produced and stars acting legend, Oscar® winner and six-time nominee Robert Duvall (Best Actor, Tender Mercies; nominated for The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Great Santini, The Apostle and A Civil Action); and Thomas Haden Church (Oscar®-nominated star of Sideways and the future villain in Spiderman 3); along with Gwendoline Yeo (The Magic of Ordinary Days), Scott Cooper (Gods and Generals), Greta Scacchi (Jefferson in Paris, The Player) and newcomers Olivia Cheng, Valerie Tian, Jadyn Wong and Caroline Chan.
Directed by Walter Hill, Directors Guild and Emmy Award® winner for his work on the pilot for Deadwood and the director of such films as The Warriors, 48 Hrs., The Long Riders and Last Man Standing, BROKEN TRAIL is written by Alan Geoffrion. The film is co-executive produced by Robert Duvall, Stanley M. Brooks (Living with the Dead) and Rob Carliner (The Apostle). The film is produced by Butchers Run Films and Once Upon a Time Films in association with Sony Pictures Television. Chad Oakes' and Mike Frislev's Nomadic Pictures provided production services in Alberta. Alan Geoffrion, Ron Parker, Chad Oakes and Damian Ganczewski are the producers. International Creative Management (ICM) brokered the deal.
The creative behind-the-scenes team is led by production designer Ken Rempel (2004's Little House on the Prairie, The Claim), editor Freeman Davies (The Horse Whisperer, 48 Hrs.), and make-up artist Manlio Rocchetti (Brokeback Mountain, Gangs of New York), who won an Oscar® and an Emmy® in 1990 for Driving Miss Daisy and Lonesome Dove. BROKEN TRAIL marks cinematographer Lloyd Ahern's eighth collaboration with Walter Hill, after such projects as Deadwood, Wild Bill and Geronimo, an American Legend.
BROKEN TRAIL began production in mid-August and was shot on location in Calgary.
AMC, a division of Rainbow Media's Entertainment Services, which also includes WE: Women's Entertainment and IFC Companies, is a 24-hour, movie-based network, dedicated to the American movie fan. The network, which reaches over 87,000,000 homes, offers a comprehensive library of popular movies and a critically-acclaimed slate of original programming that is a diverse, movie-based mix of original series, documentaries and specials. Over the past three years, AMC has garnered many of the industry's highest honors, including eight Emmy awards. AMC is "TV for movie people."
Sony Pictures Television is one of the television industry's leading content providers. SPT produces and distributes top-rated, award-winning programming in every genre, including series, movies and family entertainment for network and cable television; first-run syndicated series; off-network syndicated programs; and theatrical releases. SPT (www.sonypicturestelevision.com) is a Sony Pictures Entertainment company.