Cowboys & Aliens is a 2011 American space Western film directed by Jon Favreau and starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach, Paul Dano, and Noah Ringer. The film is based on the 2006 Platinum Studios graphic novel of the same name created by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg. Set in the Southwestern United States in a retro-futuristic version of the 1870s, the film follows an amnesiac outlaw (Craig), a wealthy powerful cattleman (Ford) and a mysterious woman (Wilde) who must ally to save a group of townspeople who have been kidnapped by aliens.
The screenplay was written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby, based on a screen story by the latter two along with Steve Oedekerk. The film was produced by Brian Grazer, Ron Howard, Kurtzman, Orci, and Rosenberg, with Steven Spielberg and Favreau serving as executive producers.
The project began development in April 1997, when Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures bought film rights to a concept pitched by Rosenberg which he described as a graphic novel in development. After the graphic novel was published in 2006, development on the film was begun again, and Favreau signed on as director in September 2009. On a budget of $163 million, filming for Cowboys & Aliens began in June 2010, in New Mexico and California. Despite studio pressure to release the film in 3-D, Favreau chose to film traditionally and in anamorphic format (widescreen picture on standard 35 mm film) to further a "classic movie feel". Measures were taken to maintain a serious Western element despite the film's "inherently comic" title and premise. The film's aliens were designed to be "cool and captivating", with some details, such as a fungus that grows on their wounds, created to depict the creatures as frontiersmen facing adversity in an unfamiliar place.
Cowboys & Aliens premiered at the 2011 San Diego Comic-Con and was released theatrically in the United States and Canada by Universal Pictures on July 29 and almost everywhere in the coming weeks by Paramount Pictures. The film underperformed at the box office, earning $175 million on a $163 million budget and resulted in a $75-80 million loss for both Universal and DreamWorks. Cowboys & Aliens received mixed reviews, with critics generally praising its acting and special effects, but criticizing the screenplay and tone. The film is also Ringer's second and final performance to date.
Plot In 1873 New Mexico Territory, a man awakens injured in the desert with a strange metal bracelet attached to his left wrist and no memory. He wanders into the town of Absolution, where preacher Meacham treats his wound. Sheriff John Taggart recognizes the stranger as an outlaw named Jake Lonergan; Jake resists arrest, but a mysterious woman named Ella Swenson interferes. Taggart and his men prepare to transport both Jake and petulant young drunkard Percy Dolarhyde to Santa Fe for trial. Percy's father, Colonel Woodrow Dolarhyde, a wealthy, powerful cattleman, arrives with armed men, demanding that Percy be released and that Jake, who has stolen gold from him, be handed over. During the standoff, alien ships begin attacking the town. Percy, Taggart, and other townsfolk are abducted by grappling cables fired from the ships. Jake's bracelet activates and transforms into a weapon, which he uses to shoot down a ship, ending the attack.
Dolarhyde, Ella, and other townsfolk form a posse to track an injured alien that escaped from the downed ship. Meanwhile, Jake travels to an abandoned cabin and, in a flashback, recalls returning there with stolen gold, only to be abducted, along with his lover Alice, by the aliens. As his memories return, Jake joins the posse. During the evening, they come upon a capsized paddle wheel steamboat that the aliens apparently dumped far from any large river. They camp inside it; during the night, the alien kills Meacham, who sacrifices himself to save Emmett, Taggart's grandson.
By morning, most of the posse have deserted, and Jake's former gang attacks the rest. Jake, who stole the gang's loot after their last heist, unsuccessfully attempts to retake control. The aliens attack again and abduct Ella. Jake jumps aboard the ship and attacks the alien pilot, causing the ship to crash into a river. The pilot survives the crash and attacks Ella, fatally wounding her, before Jake kills it with his wrist-blaster.
The remaining posse is captured by Chiricahua Apache Native Americans, who blame them for the alien attacks. After Ella's corpse is dumped on a fire by a Chiricahua warrior, she is resurrected and emerges from the fire. Ella reveals herself to be from another alien race, who had traveled to Earth for revenge after the invaders destroyed her home world. The aliens – who are nothing but lowly space pirates out to mine Earth's gold and abduct people to conduct experiments on them – have superior weaponry and are far stronger and more durable than humans; only Jake's wrist weapon or a well-aimed round from a rifle can kill them with a single shot. Ella tells them that the previous attackers were just scouts. She also claims Jake holds the secret to the aliens' whereabouts and argues that they must defeat the aliens before the invaders exterminate all life on Earth. After taking the medicine offered by the Apaches' medicine man, Jake's memory returns. He recalls watching Alice get vivisected and euthanized; he escaped by stealing the bracelet encasing his wrist. He also remembers the location of the aliens' base of operations: their landed mother ship.
With this knowledge, they plan to attack the alien base. Jake leaves to persuade his old gang to join the fight while Dolarhyde takes command of the original group and the Apaches. After the combined groups maneuver the aliens into a ground battle, Jake and Ella board the ship and free the captives, but Jake is captured. Dolarhyde rescues him, and both men escape from the ship after killing the alien responsible for Alice's death (identified by Jake, who left a distinctive scar on its eye in his original escape). The ship takes off as the remaining aliens flee Earth, but Ella stays on board to end the threat: she sacrifices herself by entering the ship's core and detonating Jake's wrist weapon, obliterating the ship.
With the aliens gone, the rescued townsfolk begin remembering their pasts. The citizens intend to rebuild their town with the gold mine discovered by the aliens. Although he is willing to turn himself in for being a wanted man, the sheriff and Dolarhyde decide to claim Jake was killed in the invasion. Jake leaves the town.
Cast
Production Development and casting
The project began development in 1997, when Universal Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures bought film rights to a concept pitched by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, former president at Malibu Comics, which he described as a graphic novel in development. They hired Steve Oedekerk to write and direct the film, which Oedekerk planned to do after completing Nutty Professor II: The Klumps. Rosenberg, who formed Platinum Studios to pursue adapting Cowboys & Aliens and other Malibu Comics properties into film and television, joined as a producer. By 1998, Oedekerk left the project to pursue a remake of the 1964 film The Incredible Mr. Limpet with Jim Carrey. By 2004, the film rights were acquired by Columbia Pictures, who did not move the project beyond development.
In 2006, Rosenberg published Cowboys & Aliens as a graphic novel. In the following year, Universal and DreamWorks partnered again to adapt Cowboys & Aliens into a film. In June 2008, Robert Downey Jr. entered negotiations to star in the film as Zeke Jackson, a former Union Army gunslinger. While Downey was making Iron Man 2, he told director Jon Favreau about Cowboys & Aliens. Favreau investigated the project, and in September 2009, he joined as director. Downey left the project in January 2010, to star in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, and later in the month, Daniel Craig was hired to replace him. Favreau said Craig's portrayal of James Bond "brings a certain virtuosity". He also described Craig, "On the one hand, he's like this Jason Bourne type, a leading man who's also a lethal character, but on the other hand, he's also got a lot of humanity and vulnerability to him."
In April 2010, Harrison Ford was cast alongside Craig. Favreau had cast Craig and Ford in the film because they were actors who suited the action-adventure roles so the characters would be less seen as comedic. The director compared Ford, in particular, with John Wayne in having "a sense of history" with the actor and the role. Before Cowboys & Aliens, Ford had previously acted in the Western films A Time for Killing (1967), Journey to Shiloh (1968) and The Frisco Kid (1979). As Ford is well known for playing Indiana Jones, the filmmakers wanted to avoid giving him a cowboy hat that would remind audiences too much of Jones. Writer Alex Kurtzman said, "We needed to make sure that—no pun intended—we tipped a hat to iconography of Harrison Ford and also presented the audience with a very different version."
Olivia Wilde was cast in one of the lead roles, and Favreau called Wilde's character the key to the film. Sam Rockwell was cast in a supporting role as Doc. The character was described as a large Mexican in the original script, but when Favreau and the writers learned of Rockwell's interest in the film, they reconceived and expanded the role. Glen Powell auditioned for the role of Percy, which eventually went to Paul Dano. Favreau himself is known for appearing in his films, but for Cowboys & Aliens, he chose not to make a cameo appearance because he thought it would affect the tone of the film. Favreau's face does appear on a wanted poster as "Todd Kravitz" in the scene establishing Craig as "Lonergan".
When asked about how the film was developing, Rosenberg stated, "It's incredible. Sometimes it's like seeing exactly what was going through my head when I first had that spark in my head as a kid. Jon Favreau's bringing his own talent and vision with the adaptation, but at the same time it remains true to what I was really trying to get at in the original story.""Interview: Scott Rosenberg on Platinum Studios, Cowboys & Aliens, and the Future of the Comic Book Industry" by Nicholas Yanes .
Steven Spielberg, one of the film's executive producers, visited Favreau and the writers during pre-production to look over the script and the artwork. He provided Favreau with a collection of classic Western films. Spielberg also invited the director and the writers to a private screening of several Western films and provided live commentary on how to make one properly. The films included Stagecoach, My Darling Clementine, and Destry Rides Again. Spielberg made several other suggestions: a main enemy alien, Jake's final use of the gauntlet being to decapitate an alien,Favreau, 1:37:20 and that Jake and Ella's first kiss should occur in the climax of the film.Favreau, 1:40:45
Writing