For a time, when casting issues and production delays smothered the western like a seemingly relentless sandstorm, it appeared as though Jane Got a Gun would never get going in earnest, with director exits threatening to clip its wings before it could truly take flight. Thankfully, those dark days are long behind The Weinstein Company’s newly-acquired feature, and we now have the first trailer available for your viewing pleasure.
Ushering Natalie Portman’s title heroine into the limelight, the action-packed, yet somewhat disjointed clip lays out the main plot points for Gavin O’Connor’s western. Leaving her husband’s sickbed to pursue the Bishop Boys – the same gang of outlaws that left her significant other on death’s doormat – Portman’s Jane seeks help in Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton), a former flame and trained marksman who reluctantly agrees to turn the character into a gunslinger.
It’s Ewan McGregor delightfully sadistic Colin who toplines the band of crooks, who jumps straight to the top of Jane’s kill list after kidnapping her daughter, paving the way for Portman’s no-nonsense protagonist to exact her revenge in brutal fashion. As an international edit of the first trailer for Jane Got a Gun, it becomes difficult to parse any story beyond the core thread of Jane’s revenge. We’re hoping that changes with the release of the worldwide clip, bringing with it a more coherent tease of O’Connor’s beleaguered drama.
Ewan McGregor, Noah Emmerich, Joel Edgerton, Boyd Holbrook and Rodrigo Santoro round out the casting call for Gavin O’ Connor’s Western romp Jane Got a Gun, which after persevering through a pair of delays is on course to release in February, 2016 in North America.
Jane Got a Gun centers on Jane Hammond (Natalie Portman), who has built a new life with her husband Bill “Ham” Hammond (Noah Emmerich) after being tormented by the ultra-violent Bishop Boys outlaw gang. She finds herself in the gang’s cross-hairs once again when Ham stumbles home riddled with bullets after dueling with the Boys and their relentless mastermind Colin (Ewan McGregor).
With the vengeful crew hot on Ham’s trail, Jane has nowhere to turn but to her former fiancé Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton) for help in defending her family against certain destruction. Haunted by old memories, Jane’s past meets the present in a heart-stopping battle for survival.