Brad Pitt & Robert Duvall eyeing THE HATFIELDS & THE MCCOYS!

Last week, 'Crazy Heart' director Scott Cooper met with Brad Pitt to pitch the idea of the actor starring & producing 'The Hatfields and the McCoys", a big screen re-telling of the infamous 19th century family feud, that apparently was the origins for the famous gameshow. Veteran actor Robert Duvall is already on board the WB picture that he described yesterday to Hollywood Elsewhere as having "an excellent script" written by Eric Roth ('The Curious Case of Benjamin Button', 'Forrest Gump'). The Hatfield-McCoy feud is not one I am familiar with but wikipedia has helped me out. They say the tale has become a part of American folklore, a metaphor for bitter rivalries. The Hatfields (above) from the Kentucky side of Tug Fork, the McCoys from the West Virginia side. It involved accusations, fisticuffs, mass murdering and 'Romeo & Juliet' style affairs between the bickering families. And apparently it all started over a disagreement over the ownership of a pig! The star crossed lovers angle was used in the 1949 Farley Granger led movie 'Roseanna McCoy', but apart from a later forgotten t.v. film; surprisingly the true size of the tale has never been told. The ambitious tale (needs a large cast, and is an epic of a tale set in the unmarketable Western genre) will be Cooper's next movie and the attachment of Pitt, would obviously be a huge coup. Pitt's Oscar nominated performance in the 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' is one of the defining moments of his career, easily his finest hour and one of the true masterpieces of the still young century - and this movie has some similar themes. No word yet to what role Brad Pitt is being eyed for but Duvall says Pitt will lead. Depending on whose side Roth's pen sides with, will depend on who he would play, but most seem to conclude he would play Randolph McCoy. The only stumbling block getting in the way could be Pitt's packed schedule, as he set to film'Moneyball'in July, though we recently heard of funding problems getting in the way of 'The Lost City of Z' - so a 2011 shoot is feasible. 'Crazy Heart's' T-Bone Bennett is in charge of the music, and hopefully there will be a role for Jeff Bridges to follow.