Important Production Updates:
05-24-03: Production Rife with Melodrama
06-25-03: The Western Dodges a Bullet
07-10-03: The Western That Wasn't

PLOT:
Let us suppose outlaw Jessie James had a daughter.

Now suppose she's grown up and out for revenge.

Then figure she's got a bunch of girlfriends who have serious outlaw tendencies and similar chips on their shoulders, all of whom just happened to be skilled either in gun handling, explosives, and/or martial arts. [See also GHOST ROCK]

What to do with such talent?  Let the girls take on a male-dominated society with a bank-robbing spree of their own. ...And in the process, try to make a believable big-screen western out of this somehow. Least that's the theory.

Who's in it:
Lite Stone Entertainment says the action-pack flick will feature Sam Elliott (The Hulk, The Contender), David James Elliot (TV's Jag), Pam Grier (Jackie Brown) and Fred Williamson (From Dust Till Dawn).

Filming Location:
Old Tucson Studios

Production Updates...

May 24, 2003:
Production Rife with Melodrama

This one looks like it's having a bit of trouble getting off the ground. The original agreement between Lite Stone Entertainment and Old Tucson Studios contracted for 31 shooting days between May 1 and May 31st. Time is almost up.

According to the Tucson Citizen, Terry Pollock, vice president of Old Tucson, reported that production has been delayed. The flick's producer, Al Smith, told Old Tucson officials that "filming would be delayed - briefly, he hoped - until a number of pending administrative details could be worked out," Pollock said in a press release.

Smith wouldn't say what delayed filming, but said the delay should be "very temporary."

In the meantime, crew members who had been holed up in local hotels have been sent home, Pollock said.

ReadTheWest.com's Pre-production Analysis:
They sent the entire crew home? This may turn out to be the only known Western that has more drama to its production than in its story.

UPDATE! June 25, 2003:
The Western Dodges a Bullet

ReadTheWest.com has confirmed through a source at Old Tucson Studios that JESSIE'S GIRL is now on "indefinite hold" which sounds quite a bit more serious than the brief delay the film's producer had initially suggested back in May.

When asked if additional casting calls for this film were going to take place, our source said the film "was not going to happen" and added "the hold up is in L.A."

Interestingly, Katherine Wehde, head of the film office at Old Tucson Studios was a bit more tight-lipped about the purported project, as well as evasive. Wehde told ReadTheWest.com, "Not much of a story here."  (Translated, that usually means there is.) When asked if she had a contact number for the elusive production company Lite Stone Entertainment, Wehde said no and admitted she had "tossed out" that info.

However, Wehde did confirm that prior to this date there had been one casting call, which took place on May 11th. So if you're waiting for a call back, forget about it. Just relax and enjoy what's left of summer. 

UPDATE! July 10, 2003:
The Western That Wasn't

Old Tucson Studios seems to be having its share of bad press these days.

And it's no wonder.

In an article entitled "Fade to Black at Old Tucson," Tucson Weekly writer Chris Limberis reported that Pete Mangelsdorf, Old Tucson's chief executive, and Terry Pollock, vice president: "...tried to reverse a stampede of bad press by recently hyping a movie that purported to feature Sam Elliot and Pam Grier... Despite a casting call that generated words and photos in Tucson's daily media, the project was illusorythe fruit of someone with a flash roll of cash."

With that bit of news, it is indeed truly sad to think that GHOST ROCK is now Old Tucson's only recent claim to fame in the Western genre. 

Click here for an update of the latest real projects starring Sam Elliott