The Promised Land falls apart

John Hillcoat’s current directorial project The Promised Land had a couple of good things going for it. The first was Hillcoat himself, who’s 2009 film The Road has been garnering quite some attention which made his newest project seem all the more appealing. Then we go onto the cast which included the talents of Ryan Gosling, Shia LaBeouf, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Scarlett Johansson and Paul Dano. This could end up being a good film if done properly, a great novel adaptation of sorts, but instead it’s the complete opposite.

In Hillcoat’s last production diary for The Road he reveals the fate of The Promised Land. Read the snippet below from The Playlist.:

“The joke on set and in the edit suite was that we had to get ["The Road"] out before it became a reality. Ironically, the movie industry itself now faces its own apocalypse. The perfect storm has arrived in Hollywood: a global economic downturn combined with piracy and the increase of downloading on the internet – what happened to the record companies years ago but with much higher stakes. The reactionary first phase has kicked in – few films in development, many films put on hold or shut down.

My own new project – with a much-loved script by Nick Cave and a dream all-star cast – has fallen apart. The finance company that we began The Road with has also fallen apart, having to radically downsize to one remaining staff member. The great divide has begun, with only very low-budget films being made or huge 3-D franchise films – the birth of brand films such as Barbie, Monopoly: The Movie – who knows what’s next, Coca-Cola: The Movie?

I end the year appropriately – gazing into the apocalypse of my own industry.”

Disappointed? Relieved? Do not care? Let us know what you think, we are curious.