A Fistful of Dollars: Remake of Clint Eastwood’s Classic Western in the Works

The Man With No Name is riding back into town. A Fistful of Dollars, the classic Sergio Leone spaghetti western that launched Clint Eastwood to international stardom, is getting a remake from an executive producer of The Departed and the Eastwood-directed 15:17 to Paris. Gianni Nunnari (300) and Simon Horsman’s (Magazine Dreams) Euro Gang Entertainment and Enzo Sisti’s (The Passion of the Christ) FPC are backing the project with Jolly Film, the Italy-based company behind the original film.

Deadline first reported the news. 1964’s A Fistful of Dollars — the first in Leone’s Dollars Trilogy that includes 1965’s For a Few Dollars More, and 1966’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly — introduced Eastwood’s legendary antihero: a cigar-chomping, poncho-clad, grizzled gunslinger. In the rework of Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo, the mysterious gunman arrives in San Miguel, a frontier town torn by war between two rival bands of smugglers terrorizing the border town’s impoverished citizens. The quick-drawing “Joe” sets into motion a plan to destroy both the Baxters and the Rojos, pitting one against the other in a series of orchestrated setups, showdowns — and deadly confrontations. 

Details about the reboot are being kept under the poncho, but Deadline notes that the update will likely be English-language. A director, writer, and cast have yet to be revealed.

“I am delighted to partner with Gianni again having just worked with him on Those About to Die,and with Simon on the remake of this classic film, which created awhole new sub-genre in film spawning over 500 European westerns,” Sisti said in a statement.

Nunnari and Horsman added: “Enzo is one of the most experiencedproducers in the film business, and we are fortunate to call him ourpartner on this incredible project. We are determined to produce aremake that does justice to the great Sergio Leone’s classic.”  

Sisti has served as the Italy line producer on such films as Mission: Impossible III, The American, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and No Time to Die. As producer, his credits include Michael Mann’s Ferrari, the Netflix series Ripley, and Roland Emmerich’s new gladiator series Those About to Die.