True Grit (2010)
- The incredible score for True Grit was composed in just a few weeks after the original composer dropped out.
- Before Jeff Bridges was cast, several major A-list stars turned down the lead role because they felt the script was too risky.
- Ethan Coen, Joel Coen originally wanted a completely different ending for the film, but test audiences preferred the one we see today.
True Grit is a 2010 American Western directed by Joel and Ethan Coen, a new adaptation of Charles Portis's 1968 novel. Hailee Steinfeld, in her film debut at 13 years old, stars as Mattie Ross, a preternaturally articulate and determined 14-year-old girl who hires the one-eyed, drunken U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn, played by Jeff Bridges, to track down Tom Chaney, played by Josh Brolin, the hired man who murdered her father and fled into Indian Territory.
Hailee Steinfeld's performance was the film's revelation — her Mattie was a force of nature, negotiating with adults using formal, archaic language with the absolute certainty of a child who has never considered the possibility of being refused. Jeff Bridges's Cogburn was gruff, mumbling, and frequently incomprehensible, a deliberate departure from John Wayne's more dignified interpretation. Roger Deakins's cinematography captured the harsh beauty of the Western landscape.
True Grit earned $252 million worldwide on a $38 million budget and received ten Academy Award nominations.
