Dead Souls
Overview
Alex Cox:
My "last movie" is a Western version of Nicolai Gogol's "Dead Souls". This is a great book, full of irony, mystery and meaning. I plan to shoot in two locations – Almería, Spain, and Tucson, Arizona.
Our story begins in a nameless place in the Arizona Territory, in 1890. These opening scenes I’ll shoot at the Rancho Leone, the location Carlo Simi built for Sergio Leone in Once Upon a Time in the West.
The destination of our swindler-hero Strindler is El Paso, Texas, where Johnny Behan is engaged in Government work. In 1965, Simi built “El Paso” for Leone, too. And it’s here that we’ll film these scenes.
So the first stage of our production is in these two towns, and in the canyons of the Tabernas desert.
Thence to Tucson, Arizona, where we'll film interiors, and the gran finale: the Saguaro desert, outside town.
These are iconic locations, and they mean a lot to me, as a young filmgoer who grew up watching films made here, and as a filmmaker who has, over the years, grown to love both places.
“Dead Souls” was Mel Brooks' favourite book. He said, "It was hysterically funny and incredibly moving at the same time." Gogol’s scurrilous protagonist, Chichikov, collects lists of dead serfs, anticipating of considerable gain. Our film's protagonist, Strindler, compiles a list of deceased Mexican nationals. Those who died on ranches, or in mines, or were shot by the sheriff’s posse. He pays for this information. No one knows how, but clearly there is money to be made…