Female-driven western 'Jane Got a Gun' secures financing

Since her Best Actress win for Black Swan in 2010, Natalie Portman hasn't played another meaty role, instead appearing in blockbusters like Thor, the romantic comedy No Strings Attached, and the stoner comedy Your Highness. She's wrapped work on a Terrence Malick project, but chances are that
performance won't be seen for some time. Her next big appearance may be in Jane Got a Gun, a western that will film early next year. Portman would both star and produce. The production just secured financing, and the sales agents will be looking for buyers at the Toronto Film Festival in a few weeks.

Portman would play a woman who has to ask her ex-lover for help in order to save her current husband, an outlaw. The husband comes home riddled with bullets, almost on his deathbed, and a gang of Confederate soldiers is after him to finish the job. That forces Portman's character to seek out her ex, who can help her defend the family farm. It had been reported that Michael Fassbender was considering playing the role of the ex, but those rumors were later squashed.

Lynne Ramsay (We Need to Talk About Kevin) is directing, making this truly a female-driven picture. There really aren't many films to draw on for comparison. Civil War and farm-set Cold Mountain comes to mind, but I see more differences than similarities. Though the western genre has long since passed its heyday, the right kind of project can bring people back, like 3:10 to Yuma or the more contemporary No Country for Old Men, for example. With a farm wife starring in what's normally a cowboy picture, Jane Got a Gun may be just that.