Fred Hechinger of The White Lotus co-stars in Gabe Polsky’s edgy Western based on the novel by John Edward Williams.
Nine months after the release of The Old Way, the first Western to showcase Nicolas Cage in a starring role, the Oscar-winning actor has saddled up to play cowboy once again in Butcher’s Crossing, which Saban Films will open in theaters Oct. 20.
Based on the novel by John Edward Williams, director Gabe Polsky’s epic frontier adventure is billed as “a riveting commentary on human nature, ambition, masculinity, and man’s relationship to his natural environment.” Fred Hechinger of The White Lotus co-stars as Will Andrews, an ambitious young man who leaves Harvard to find adventure in the Old West. He teams up with Miller (Cage), a mysterious frontiersman who aims to claim an unprecedented number of buffalo pelts in a secluded valley. The two men and their crew must survive an arduous journey where the harsh elements will test everyone’s resolve — and their sanity.
“There’s something about the dark side of human nature,” Cage told the showbiz site Deadline after the Toronto Film Festival premiere of Butcher’s Crossing, “where there’s a bloodlust that gets combined with greed and the need to succeed that’s in all of these characters.”
“It’s a story,” added director Gabe Polsky, “that’s very fundamental about life and about human nature.”
Here is the official Saban Films trailer for Butcher’s Crossing.
And here is a Variety interview with the cast and director of Butcher’s Crossing.
