John Sayles’ First Movie in Over a Decade Is a Western with Amy Madigan and Chris Cooper

You might only be able to count on just one hand the number of filmmakers more influential to the rise of independent cinema than John Sayles, who hasn’t directed a film since 2013’s “Go for Sisters.” The director hasn’t been totally absent in that span. IndieWire spoke with him on two occasions in 2024 when his classics “Lone Star” and “City of Hope” were both restored and re-released on Blu-ray. But we’re finally about to have something new to talk with him about.

Sayles is returning to the director’s chair for the first time in over a decade and will write and direct a Western called “I Passed This Way,” an individual with knowledge told IndieWire. Starring in the film is newly-minted Oscar winner Amy Madigan alongside fellow Oscar winner Chris Cooper, and the film is being shopped to buyers at the Cannes Film Market going on this week.

“I Passed This Way” reimagines the classic “man on the run” Western. Per a synopsis, “the film follows Ross McEwen, a cowboy who impulsively robs a bank and flees across the arid New Mexico Territory. Pursued by legendary lawman Pat Garrett and his ambitious young deputy, Ross takes refuge at a remote homestead ravaged by diphtheria. There, he faces a moral dilemma: continue his escape to Mexico or stay to help a family in desperate need — at the cost of his freedom.” And though it’s an updated take, the story is actually based on a 1927 novella and serialized story by Eugene Manlove Rhodes called “Pasó Por Aquí.”

“I Passed This Way” also stars Thomas Mann, Ted Levine, Ron Perlman, and Cameron Monaghan. Producing the film along with Sayles are Maggie Renzi, Alejandro Springall, and Nadine Luque, and principal photography is scheduled to begin in Q4 of this year in both the Canary Islands and Almería, Spain.

International sales will be handled by Latido Films, led by Antonio Saura, and UTA Independent Film Group is representing North American sales on behalf of the filmmakers.

In an interview with Variety, which broke the news on Sayles’ return, the director said he first read the novella during the first President Trump administration and was shocked that the forces that put him into power were “appealing to our citizens’ worst characteristics, fear, racism, the idea that being a superpower justified any behavior.” He said the best classic Westerns though had real values to them that he wanted to preserve.

“The ones I appreciated most had a moral core to them, often valuing ‘justice’ over ‘law’ and presenting their protagonists with tough decisions,” Sayles said. “I think these movies are important in developing the best aspects of the America character, and I think ‘I Passed This Way’ will be both a very welcome and useful movie to audiences around the world.”

Sayles has two Oscar nominations to his name and is the director of such classic ensemble stories of Americana like “Lone Star,” “Eight Men Out,” “City of Hope,” “Passion Fish,” “Matewan,” and more. With a career spanning more than 40 years, he has written over 70 screenplays and several acclaimed novels.

Madigan after winning the Oscar for “Weapons” is also set to join Ryan Coogler’s “X-Files” reboot and will also return for a prequel to “Weapons” based on her Aunt Gladys villain character.

Cooper starred in last year’s “The History of Sound” and is currently filming the drama and musical “Light on Broken Glass” with Patricia Clarkson.