Director Alexander Payne hasn’t had a film in cinemas since the acclaimed Sideways in 2004, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. No end of ideas and screenplays fell by the wayside before he finally began shooting The Descendants with George Clooney last year. That new film is likely to debut at the autumn festivals, but it appears getting back behind the camera had helped motivate Payne to ensure there isn’t another seven year gap between movies.
Now The Playlist reports that he wants to make Nebraska next, a movie that he’s been attached to for six years, waiting for the right opportunity to get it made. Robert Nelcon’s script is ‘about an aging alcoholic father who thinks hes won a million dollar Publishers Clearing House sweepstakes prize (which is kind of like the American version of Reader’s Digest draws). He is unbowed when his family tries to dissuade him from making the long trip from Montana to Nebraska to cash in his winnings. So his estranged 20-something sonwho doesnt believe the ticket is a winneris forced to go along with him for the ride to keep him out of trouble, providing an opportunity to bond with his father after years of separation.’
While fictional, the script was probably inspired by the case of a man who went across country to Florida to pick up a big cash prize he thought he’d won due to the wording of a mailer he’d recieved, not realising hundreds of thousands of people got the same letter. Worst of all, he made the trip again when he got another similar bit of mail a while later, not realising that too was just generic trash. Apparently Publisher’s Clearing House has several people a year who turn up demanding prizes, not realising they’re just one of millions who could win, although not many do it twice.
It’s the sort of thing Payne should do well with, as he seems to have an affinity with people bonding during trips. However it seems its still pretty early days, as no one has been cast and while set up at Paramount, Nebraska is a long way from getting the greenlight.