Two new teasers were released last week for James Huth’s upcoming movie, Lucky Luke, based on Maurice De Bevere’s comic about the lonesome cowboy who shoots faster than his shadow. The teasers focus on two of the main baddies from the movie : Calamity Jane and Billy The Kid. Even though both characters are based on well-known real historical people, the film clearly sides with the comic’s interpretation, and portrays Billy as a spoiled brat with a penchant for lollipops, whereas Jane is a loudmouth who is quite handy with the gun.
I especially like the fact that all cowboys have English names, and live in towns with English names, but quite matter-of-factly speak French (must admit that made me laugh -- Joe). It sure adds to the surrealism of the film.
For a long time, I have held that Astérix: Mission Cléopatra was the best movie based on a Franco-belgian comic, since it managed to capture and even add to the anarchic humor of the original stories, while also staying quite faithful to the original book. After seeing these two little clips, though, I think Lucky Luke may as well give Astérix a run for his money . I’ll let you know when I see it… The film is released in Europe next month; the Lucky Luke albums are printed in English in the UK by Cinebook.
Wim Lockefeer lives in Belgium but still harbours hopes of being a cowboy one day when he grows up; you can read more of Wim’s thoughts on comics and art on his Ephemerist blog.
Fri, Sep 18, 2009
Comics and cartoons, Film, TV and radio, From our Continental Correspondent