[UPDATE: Check out the fantastic new True Grit trailer - MUCH better than the one below.]
Today the teaser trailer for the Coen brothers’ adaptation of the 1968 western novel True Grit, starring Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, and newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, was released. It’ll be the first time that the Coen Brothers and Jeff Bridges have worked on a movie together since the cult favorite, The Big Lebowski.
True Grit was previously adapted in 1969 by Henry Hathaway with John Wayne as the iconic, eye-patch wearing, alcoholic marshal named Rooster Cogburn. This time around, Jeff Bridges, who most recently won an Oscar for his turn in Crazy Heart, will be wearing the eye-patch. The thrust of the plot is about a fourteen-year-old girl named Mattie Ross, played by Steinfeld, who sets out to get revenge on the man who killed her father, teaming up with Cogburn to do so.
Check out the trailer below:
[media id=252 width=570 height=340]
You can also see it in high-quality Quicktime on Apple’s website.
The True Grit trailer has all the hallmarks of a masterful Coen Brothers movie, including soaring, southern-inspired music and beautiful cinematography. It looks to be more in the vein of No Country for Old Men and Blood Simple than, say, Raising Arizona or Intolerable Cruelty, what with the topic of revenge being so prevalent.
Apparently, the Coen brothers version of True Grit has been incorrectly labeled a remake by many in the media. According to the Coens, it’s just a more accurate adaptation of the original source material, not unlike John Carpenter’s The Thing.
Referring to the source material, Ethan Coen said of the film to IGN:
“It’s partly a question of point-of-view. The book is entirely in the voice of the 14-year-old girl. That sort of tips the feeling of it over a certain way. I think [the book is] much funnier than the movie was so I think, unfortunately, they lost a lot of humor in both the situations and in her voice. It also ends differently than the movie did. You see the main character — the little girl — 25 years later when she’s an adult. Another way in which it’s a little bit different from the movie — and maybe this is just because of the time the movie was made — is that it’s a lot tougher and more violent than the movie reflects. Which is part of what’s interesting about it.”
If the movie has a particularly humorous slant, it doesn’t show in the trailer, which looks somber and tense, all throughout. One has to assume they left that out to remind us that the Coen brothers are the filmmakers responsible for the Academy Award-winning No Country for Old Men—though that movie had its own twisted sense of humor, too.
True Grit hits theaters December 25, 2010.
No Loki in 'Avengers 2' 
Movie News Wrap Up: Arnold in 'Expendables 3', 'Choose Your Own Adventure' Movie & More 
Gary Oldman to Direct Cumberbatch & Fiennes in 'Flying Horse'? 
Actors Who've Played Superman 
whelp…hmm on the fence about this still.
like him or not, Matt Damon may be up for 2 academy awards this year. The academy does like him and he’s got True Grit for suporting actor and Hereafter for lead actor.
Unlikely but this could be the rare experience when someone gets 2 nominations
Yes!! Been waiting for this! Coens are my favorite
love it so far
Yes please!
Wow looks like the fight scene in the end is going to be frame for frame like the original.
Looks like a great Christmas movie — I love the music and Jeff Bridges is always at the top of his game.
I like everyone involved but I don’t think they should’ve made a new True Grit, John Wayne’s most famous movie. There seems to be scenes that were taken from the original True Grit and filmed with the new actors, why make a new version of a classic and just film the same movie. I honestly don’t mind remakes, however this is one I could have don’t without. Their is to much talent going into this movie for it to come out bad but I would like for people to remember True Grit as a John Wayne movie. Jeff Bridges is a great actor,their just isn’t anyone who can fill John Wayne’s shoes in my opinion.
This isn’t really a remake, there was a book before the first movie. And john waynes performance was horrible in the first adaption. He only won the oscar cause it was a long time coming. Google biggest oscar travisties and it’ll be in the top 5. Granted he should of won one way before.
Whoa!!! I just read that Obama says that children in schools have to start eating live kittens!!! I saw it on the internet, so it must be 100% true.
Okay fine, go to your local library and look it up. You’ll find the same answers. Your anology is worthless and way extreme.
Holy crap, that is a true grit!!
John Wayne is a legend and many believe that True Grit is his best movie. To say John Wayne was awful in True Grit means you really can’t tell what a great performance is, show some respect.
Dude any film scholar will tell you his true grit performance was not up to par. The academy snubbed him for years for other oscar worthy performances. True grit was not his best. I never said he was a bad actor just that, that was not a good one from him. I don’t have to respect something i don’t find noteworthy.
John Wayne also was a racist.
Plus this movie will follow the book more closely of not exact.
John Wayne was not a racist.Where did you here such ignorance,and what does that have to do with the man’s preformance in a movie?
okay I just got through reading tha article of his controversial statements.I dont think he was racist due to his “interracial marriages”.HoweverI do think he was highly controversial for his statments,and seems to have an interesting take on society.Do I agree with alot of what he said,HELL NO.But I dont believe the man was racist.
The man was from a different era, but he was definitely racist. He also criticized people for avoiding the Vietnam draft despite the fact that he himself avoided many times over going to World War II. Regardless, he’s dead now, and his performances speak for themselves. He’s still one of the most recognizable and beloved American actors for a reason.
Oh, for God’s sake, please shut up. I can name your tune in two notes, especially with a name like GetMoney. John Wayne was a charitable philanthropist and loving family man who gave money to charities his entire life. What have you done besides sit and home, draw a check, and blame everyone else for racism? Usually, the folks who cry “racism” are racists themselves.
Really, the folks who cry racism are more often the racists? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wayne#Controversial_statements_to_Playboy_magazine
Listen, it’s old news, but the man was a racist. Being forcibly enslaved by white people is not akin to infantile paralysis.
So I’m racist for calling a man who said he believed in white power and that all black ppl are uneducated and should be ruled by the white man,That makes me racist for calling him out?Like your screen name is so much better than mine.
He may have been a “charitable philanthropist and loving family man” BUT he was also clearly a racist.
I really can’t wait to here Bridges say “Fill your hand you son of a B&*%$!”
IDK if I can believe Matt Damon as a gun slinger.lol
Have you ever seen any of the Bourne movies?
Yes, all 3 of them.Liked Identity and Supremacy but didn’t care 4 Ultimatum.It’s just hard 4 me put Bounre in the old west.lol
I didn’t think it was the best choice either, but the Coens never cast bad and in the trailer he looks the part.
The Coen Brothers do a good job @ casting their movies… I don’t think he really looks the part.Unlike Bridges and Brolin.
It will still be better than the original
very doubtful pal
I think it may be too early for a lot of these comments.
And I personally don’t think John Wayne was a saint or a devil. He was a good actor and an American Icon. Like any good actor / American Icon, his work is not going to go untouched by the hand of remake, so best get used to that.
i personally feel that True Grit and The Quiet Man are his best movies. though i also feel that he should have recieved an oscar for The Quiet Man.
I don’t think its to early. Just cause he was an american icon/good actor doesn’t mean all of his work was great. His performance in the original ‘adaption’ was not his best. I think everyone is just jumping on the john wayne is the greatest and no one can match that band wagon. Well new flash people, things evolve. Its just like people thinking john bonahm wad the greatest drummer ever or that jimmy hendrix is the best guitar player or the beatles were the greatest band ever. Some one can always be better or just as good.
Its flattering to the memory of the legendary John Wayne but classics like this should just be left alone. With all the aspiring screenwriters in Hollywood we are yet again subjected to another remake.
Come on Hollywood, try something new and fresh and stop with the remakes already. You can’t be out of new ideas.
Cory Cooper
Elvis Historian, Consultant, Technical Advisor
ElvisExpert@aol.com
i agree with you Cory some movies, should never be remade
Its not a remake. It was a book first. Therefore it is a adaption.
the ORIGINAL was also an “adaptation”
the Coens can call it what they want though
But there’s a difference between an adaptation and a remake. No filmmaker has artistic ownership over a story that was made as a book, comic book, play, or videogame first. But filmmakers who created and developed a story and an artwork as a movie originally are the primary artistic owners of those stories. Hence remaking them tends to be less original, less interesting. Batman Begins, for example, is not a remake of Tim Burton’s Batman, which itself is not a remake of the Batman movie starring Adam West.
But this follows the book more.
*SPOILER*
like matties arm being amputated and lebouf surviving.
End spoiler—–
Wouldn’t this be closer to the original material? Also by following matties p.o.v.?
I’m agreeing with you, I wrote the same thing in the article.
Sorry ben, i miss read it. My bad holmes
Not a problem.
also…i just cant let this one go: to the guy/girl, whoever said Wayne was a racist…what bearing does THAT have on this thread at all??? grow up, seriously.
I’m “that guy” and that comment was directed @ the ppl calling John Wayne an american icon and a great person.Grow up?How is it immature to call a white supremacist a racist?
@ getmoney: Didn’t you ever see Avenue Q? Every body is a little bit racist.
To judge Wayne by 2010 standards is completely preposterous. You can’t judge a person artistically & historically without looking at the whole picture of his upbringing and experiences in the cultural paradigm he navigated.
It would be akin to judge everything Aristotle wrote of no value because some of his thoughts were misogynistic.
Or more to the point, it would be like dismissing Spike Lee as a racist film maker because of some of his early views of the impossibility of racial harmony in his early films.
I understand that ppl are taught racism and I understand that ppl have racial stereotypes.So do you also think I should not judge slave owners by 2010 standers?Because that was the way they were taught?No,wrong is wrong. To say that that there should be white supremacy is no different than saying blacks should be enslaved again.I like the way Spike Lee deals with racism,especially in Jungle Fever.He shows how BOTH blacks and whites hate the idea of an interracial couple.I have not seen Avenue Q btw.
@santa
The wayne said that he didn’t care about the fact europeans took america from them and killed many. He also said blacks were of a lower intelligence than white people. Sorry but the man was a flat out bigot. That’s like saying we can’t judge hitlers racism by todays standards, or that people were ignorant in the past.
Here’s my whole problem. And this isn’t directed towards anyone specific, so please no backlash, but im happy to discuss. A lot of people on this site talk about how film/art is all subjective and personal opinion, until something they cherish gets touched or made again or use whatever word you chose. Most people here on this site had no problem saying how ledgers performance was better than nicholsons and he’s an american icon/good actor as well. No one had a problem when nolan did the batman reboot. Was it a remake? Again subjective, but it had source material before making it to film, just like true grit. All im saying is sometimes, and not everyone has some hipocritical statements. Rant over
.
I can’t wait for this film. It looks intense
Yee haw! LMAO!!!
We can argue about John Wayne all day and not touch the topic of this article. I read (and still have a copy that I will reread.), of True Grit by Charles Portis. When I read the book the first time I never pictured John Wayne in the part of Cogburn; although his portrayal prompted me to buy the book. I’m all for the grittier look of todays’ westerns, anyone who has gone days without a bath knows that you can’t stay as clean looking as the folks in those old westerns, not to mention the smell. Anyway, as a 53 year old student of film I’d love to set all you youngsters straight on John Wayne; suffice it to say if you aren’t old enough to know what it was like when a new Wayne film came out, you don’t know squat about his Iconic status.
Back then, we didn’t know as much about celebrities as we do now. Does personal life (Mel Gibson) matter when you’re watching or buying a movie? To some it does and to some it doesn’t. Personally, I won’t watch a new movie with Mel in it. That’s my choice.
How can a racist be an icon?
Just cause i or others weren’t around then doesn’t mean we have to take him as an icon. Consciousness has evolved and we see things different now. American icons aren’t looked at the same way anymore. I don’t concider him an icon in my eyes cause he was a bigot and imho not that great of an actor. I also think there are overrated actors today. Legend, icon or what i hold anyone is subject to critical opinion, even if they’re cherished by many.
Wow. How about i change the comments up a bit. From someone who hasn’t read the book or seen the movies I will see this based on the trailer. Looks more like No Country then any other Coen movie which is great. While it doesn’t bother me , perhaps Joel of Ethan should of written an original western. Maybe the comments on this article would be more worthwhile then. Also i wonder if the Coens will ever work with Javier Bardem again? Thoughts?