Sergio Leone, the brilliant director who gave us THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, and many others, passed away far too soon, leaving behind a number of unfinished projects. One of those potential projects was Colt, which Leone envisioned as a TV miniseries about a Colt revolver which passed from owner to owner throughout the Old West.
Decades later, Variety has reported that Colt may have found new life as Sergio Leone's children Raffaella and Andrea are shopping the project at the Cannes Film Festival with Stefano Sollima (SICARIO: DAY OF THE SOLDADO) attached to direct. This time around, Colt will become a feature-film and Sollima has put his own spin on the concept which will see the titular firearm change hands between kids. "It’s a coming-of-age story of three kids, aged 12 or 13, who as orphans come into possession of this weapon, and for a whole series of reasons become criminals," Sollima said. "I can assure you that a 12-year-old with a Colt in his hand is pretty striking." The plan is to shoot COLT in Canada this winter, due to the setting's mountainous terrain, and Sollima is currently in talks with a "top U.S. writer" to join the project. They're also looking at some A-list actors for the adult characters, which include a lead protagonist and antagonist, but are hoping to discover some unknown talent to play the three young teens. Sollima added that COLT would target a younger audience who aren't overly familiar with the Western genre.
I once told my kids, who are in their early teens, ‘I’d like to do a Western,’ and they said: ‘What is a Western?' Their generation doesn’t know Westerns. They haven’t seen them at the movies. I thought it would be interesting to draw them into this genre with a story that speaks to them.
The Western genre also runs in Stefano Sollima's blood, as his later father Sergio directed several Spaghetti Westerns, including THE BIG GUNDOWN starring Lee Van Cleef and Tomas Milian.