The director of The Holdovers, Alexander Payne, is thinking about making a western, an Election sequel or even ‘ a good car chase film.’ Is it too much to ask for all three?
How is Alexander Payne planning to follow The Holdovers, last year’s excellent period drama? It could yet go one of several ways but as it stands, a Western looks to be the likely path. Speaking at the Sarajevo Film Festival, Payne revealed that he is working on a Western with David Hemingson, the writer of The Holdovers. However, Payne also added that a sequel to his beloved 1999 comedy, Election is still in the works.
“The one genre I’ve wanted to do is a Western,” said Payne (and covered by Deadline). “So, right now while Jim [Taylor] and I are talking about a sequel to Election, with a different writer – the guy who wrote The Holdovers [David Hemingson], we have been conceiving a Western for years now.”
A Payne Western is certainly an intriguing idea and the filmmaker gave us a little idea at what that might look like, adding: “It would be nice to take a kind of realistic-slash-naturalistic approach to a Western and also using landscape. In as much as sense of place is important…part of my interest is having even greater dramatic, archetypical interplay between character and landscape. I think it’s really interesting. Also, I’d like to do a good car chase film.”
Read more: The Holdovers review | Pure, cinematic soup for the soul
Just to be clear, we’d also take an Alexander Payne car chase film too, not that we’re being greedy or anything. And what of this long-mooted sequel to Election. We heard back in 2022 that Reece Witherspoon had signed up for the project. By 2023 the director announced that the film’s fate 'could go either way.’
Despite it being in the works for a few years now, Payne admitted that a sequel, which would be based on Perrotta’s newest novel Tracy Flick Can’t Win, was still at a development stage.“There is talk and Jim Taylor and I are conceding that now,” said Payne. “If there were to be a sequel to Election, what would that look like?”
No clear answer as to what comes next then, but given how fascinating each of those projects sound, we’ll take any of them. When we do hear more, we’ll let you know.
