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A Million Ways to Die in the West

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A Million Ways to Die in the West
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySeth MacFarlane
Written bySeth MacFarlane
Alec Sulkin
Wellesley Wild
Produced bySeth MacFarlane
Scott Stuber
Jason Clark
StarringSeth MacFarlane
Charlize Theron
Amanda Seyfried
Neil Patrick Harris
Giovanni Ribisi
Sarah Silverman
Liam Neeson
Narrated byRex Linn
CinematographyMichael Barrett
Edited byJeff Freeman
Music byJoel McNeely
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • May 30, 2014 (2014-05-30)
Running time
116 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$40 million[2]
Box office$6,100,000[3]

A Million Ways to Die in the West is a 2014 American western comedy film written and produced by Seth MacFarlane, Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, and directed by MacFarlane. Starring MacFarlane himself, the film features an ensemble cast including Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Neil Patrick Harris, Giovanni Ribisi, Sarah Silverman, and Liam Neeson. Produced by Media Rights Capital and distributed by Universal Pictures,[4][5] the film was released on May 30, 2014.[6][7]

Plot

In 1882 Arizona, courage-less sheep farmer Albert Stark loses his beloved girlfriend Louise as a result of his withdrawal from a duel. He soon meets Anna, through whom he discovers his confidence and his courage. After falling in love with her, Stark soon realizes his true potential when Anna's husband, the infamous outlaw Clinch Leatherwood, arrives in town seeking retribution for Stark's relationship with his wife.[8]

Cast

Cameos

Production

A Million Ways to Die in the West originated as an inside joke between MacFarlane and co-writers Alec Sulkin and Wellesley Wild, who are also writers on Family Guy and co-wrote Ted. The joke evolved into "riffing on the idea of how dull, depressing and dangerous it must have been to live in the Wild West."[19] MacFarlane, a lifelong fan of westerns, began researching the topic, using Jeff Guinn's nonfiction novel, The Last Gunfight: The Real Story of the Shootout at the O.K. Corral — And How It Changed the American West as an "invaluable resource," and basis for many of the ways of dying in the film.[19] Various aspects of the film were inspired by real westerns. The decision to make Albert a sheep herder was inspired by Montana (1950) and his average, non-confrontational demeanor by 3:10 to Yuma (1957).[20] Other westerns that inspired MacFarlane and the crew during writing included Oklahoma! (1955), The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and El Dorado (1966).[20]

The film was first announced on December 3, 2012, marking Seth MacFarlane's second foray into live-action directing, after 2012's Ted.[21] On January 30, 2013, it was announced that Charlize Theron had joined the film.[22] On February 11, it was announced Amanda Seyfried had joined the film.[23] On March 6, it was announced Liam Neeson and Giovanni Ribisi had joined the film.[24] On March 18, it was announced that Sarah Silverman was cast to play a prostitute in the film.[25] On May 10, it was announced that the film would be co-financed by Media Rights Capital and Fuzzy Door Productions, along with Bluegrass Films and distributed by Universal Studios.[26] On May 29, 2013, MacFarlane tweeted that Bill Maher had joined the cast.[17] On February 21, 2014, he tweeted that Gilbert Gottfried had also joined the cast.[15]

Principal photography began on May 6, 2013.[27][28] Filming locations included areas in New Mexico,[29] including the Santa Fe Studio.[30] Principal photography ended on August 9, 2013.[31] The film shoot was difficult, as the cast and crew navigated rough weather: "everything from hailstorms to blistering heat to arctic winds and torrential rainstorms."[19]

Marketing

On January 27, 2014, MacFarlane announced that he wrote a companion novel based on the film's script, which was released on March 4, 2014.[32][33] An audio-book version was also made available, narrated by Jonathan Frakes.[34] MacFarlane wrote the book on weekends during shooting for the film, partially due to boredom.[19]

Reception

Box office

Box office analysts have predicted the film to open in around the $25 million range, marking early success for the film in consideration with its budget.[35] "Even though MacFarlane boasts an enthusiastic, heavily male fanbase, Westerns are an inherently tough sell," wrote The Hollywood Reporter.[36]

Critical reception

A Million Ways to Die in the West received generally negative reviews from critics. The film currently holds a 34% rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes based on 142 reviews, with an average score of 4.9/10; the consensus reads, "While it offers a few laughs and boasts a talented cast, Seth MacFarlane's overlong, aimless A Million Ways to Die in the West is a disappointingly scattershot affair."[37] Another review aggregation website, Metacritic, gave a score of 44 out of 100 based on 40 reviews, which indicates mixed or average reviews.[38]

Claudia Puig's review in USA Today was largely positive, writing, "A Western with a contemporary sensibility and dialogue that sounds markedly modern, A Million Ways to Die in the West is quintessential MacFarlane, at once silly and witty, juvenile and clever."[39] Stephen Holden's review in The New York Times was mainly neutral, calling the film "a live-action spinoff of [Family Guy], with different characters."[40] "While the whole thing feels weirdly miscalculated to me, A Million Ways to Die in the West tweaks the formula just enough, delivers a few laughs and keeps the guest stars coming," wrote Salon columnist Andrew O'Hehir.[41] Rafer Guzman of Newsday found the film amusing, calling it "another example of MacFarlane's ability to mix poop jokes with romance, foul language with sweet sentiment, offensive humor with boyish charm."[42]

In a more negative review, Scott Mendelson of Forbes commended MacFarlane's decision to make an unconventional western comedy, but summarized the film as "just ambitious enough for that to be genuinely disappointing."[43] Michael O'Sullivan at The Washington Post was mixed, deeming the film a "broad, wildly hit-or-miss satire," remarking that few of many jokes in the film he found funny.[44] "Spiritually, it's closer to a mid-range crowd-pleaser such as City Slickers than Blazing Saddles, too enamoured of genre convention to reach for the comic dynamite," wrote Mike McCahill at The Guardian.[45]

Much of the film's negative reviews focused on its writing, running time, and MacFarlane's debut live-action performance. Michael Phillips of the Chicago Tribune, in a scathing review of the film, derided MacFarlane's acting and direction: "What we have here is a failure of craft. He can't direct action, or even handle scenery well. He can't set up a visual joke properly without resorting to head-butting and bone-crunching, and he doesn't know how, or when, to move his camera. He's not good enough as a romantic lead to anchor a picture."[46] Richard Corliss of Time called the film a "sagebrush comedy whose visual grandeur and appealing actors get polluted by some astonishingly lazy writing."[46] Scott Foundas of Variety found the film "overlong and uninspired," criticizing the film's "lazy writing," and MacFarlane's "surprisingly bland" comic performance.[47]

Rene Rodriguez of the Miami Herald gave the film one star, commenting, "There are enough laughs scattered throughout A Million Ways to Die in the West that while you're watching it, the movie seems like a passable comedy. By the time you get home, though, you can barely remember the jokes."[48] John DeFore of The Hollywood Reporter criticized the film's running time: "Though the film is hardly laugh-free, its uneven jokes appear to have breezed through a very forgiving editing process."[49] Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal too found the film's length "exhausting," noting, "Some of it sputters, settling for smiles instead of laughs, and much of it flounders while the slapdash script searches [...] for ever more common denominators in toilet humor."[50]

Soundtrack

Untitled

The score for the film was composed by Joel McNeely. The soundtrack was released by Back Lot Music on May 27, 2014.[51] The theme song "A Million Ways to Die" is performed by Alan Jackson. It was released as a single on April 29, 2014.[52] A portion of the Back to the Future theme by Alan Silvestri is used during Doc Brown's cameo.[16]

Track listing

All music is composed by Joel McNeely, except as noted

No.TitleLength
1."A Million Ways to Die" (performed by Alan Jackson)2:27
2."Main Title"2:33
3."Missing Louise"2:08
4."Old Stump"0:45
5."Saloon Brawl"1:50
6."Rattlesnake Ridge"1:28
7."People Die at the Fair"2:11
8."The Shooting Lesson"2:16
9."The Barn Dance"2:29
10."If You’ve Only Got a Moustache" (performed by Amick Byram)1:31
11."Anna and Albert"4:19
12."Clinch Hunts Albert"3:41
13."Racing the Train"2:21
14."Captured by Cochise"2:07
15."Albert Takes a Trip"2:24
16."The Showdown"2:20
17."Sheep to the Horizon"2:00
18."End Title Suite"2:30
Total length:41:20

References

  1. ^ "A Million Ways to Die in the West". British Board of Film Classification. May 19, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  2. ^ "Box-Office Preview: 'Maleficent' Set to Curse 'Million Ways to Die in the West'". The Hollywood Reporter. May 28, 2014. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  3. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=millionwaystodie.htm
  4. ^ "A Million Ways to Die in the West". Media Rights Capital. Retrieved May 26, 2013.
  5. ^ Collura, Scott. "Sarah Silverman for MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West". IGN. Retrieved May 9, 2013.
  6. ^ Taylor, Amanda (May 10, 2013). "'A Million Ways to Die in the West' gets summer 2014 release date". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  7. ^ Fox, Jesse David (May 11, 2013). "Neil Patrick Harris Joins Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West". Vulture.
  8. ^ Knoll, Justin (May 10, 2013). "Universal to Release Seth MacFarlane's 'A Million Ways To Die' on May 30, 2014". Variety.
  9. ^ Shaw-Williams, Hannah (February 3, 2014). "'A Million Ways to Die in the West' Trailer Has a Whole Lot of Death". Screen Rant. Retrieved February 5, 2014.
  10. ^ a b "Rex Linn Joins Seth MacFarlane's 'A Million Ways to Die in the West'". The Hollywood Reporter. May 30, 2013. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  11. ^ a b "Liam Neeson & Giovanni Ribisi Join 'A Million Ways to Die in the West'". Screen Rant. Retrieved August 10, 2013.
  12. ^ Quinlan, Erin (May 21, 2014). "Neil Patrick Harris taps 'stache of talent in 'Million Ways to Die'". Today.
  13. ^ "Wes Studi to Be Second American Indian Inducted into 'Hall of Great Western Performers'". Indian Country Today Media Network. April 19, 2013. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  14. ^ Vejvoda, Jim (March 25, 2014). "Universal Shows Off Fifty Shades of Grey, Lucy, A Million Ways to Die in the West and More at CinemaCon". IGN. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  15. ^ a b "SethMacFarlane: Great day of filming with the hilarious Gilbert Gottfried @RealGilbert on #AMillionWays". Twitter. February 21, 2014. Retrieved February 22, 2014.
  16. ^ a b "A Million Ways to Die in the West" (PDF). Universal Pictures. May 9, 2014.
  17. ^ a b "@billmaher brought the laughs today in A Million Ways To Die In The West". Twitter. May 29, 2013. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  18. ^ Morgan, Maybelle (May 29, 2014). "ELLE reviews A Million Ways to Die in the West". Elle. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  19. ^ a b c d Alexandra Cheney (April 29, 2014). "Seth MacFarlane on 'Million Ways to Die' and Taking Projects That 'Terrify' Him". Variety. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  20. ^ a b David Fear (June 5, 2014). "The Cowboy Flicks That Shaped Seth MacFarlane". Rolling Stone (1210). New York City: Wenner Media LLC: 18. ISSN 0035-791X. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  21. ^ "Seth MacFarlane Finds A Million Ways to Die in the West". ComingSoon.net. December 3, 2012. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  22. ^ "Charlize Theron Eyes A Million Ways to Die in the West". ComingSoon.net. January 30, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  23. ^ "Amanda Seyfried Finds A Million Ways to Die in the West". ComingSoon.net. February 11, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  24. ^ "Giovanni Ribisi and Liam Neeson Find A Million Ways to Die in the West". ComingSoon.net. March 6, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  25. ^ "Sarah Silverman Eyes A Million Ways to Die in the West". ComingSoon.net. March 18, 2013. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  26. ^ "Universal and MRC Board Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved May 11, 2013.
  27. ^ "On The Set For 5/13/13: Melissa McCarthy Co-Directing 'Tammy' For New Line Cinema…'Low Down,' Ghosts of the Pacific'". Studio System News. May 13, 2013.
  28. ^ Heisel, Angela (April 3, 2013). "The New Mexico Film Office Announces "A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST" to film in New Mexico" (PDF). New Mexico Film Office.
  29. ^ MacFarlane, Seth (April 23, 2013). "Filming A Million Ways to Die in the West. Fun being in a climate where you have to drink 9,000 glasses of water a day or you drop dead". Twitter.
  30. ^ Gomez, Adrian (May 12, 2013). "Star-studded N.M. offers TV series, movies new incentives". ABQjournal.
  31. ^ MacFarlane, Seth (August 9, 2013). "Last day of filming on A Million Ways to Die in the West -- thanks to a cast and crew as talented as they are tireless". Twitter.
  32. ^ MacFarlane, Seth (January 27, 2014). "For anyone who still reads". Twitter.
  33. ^ Gibson, Megan (January 28, 2014). "Seth MacFarlane Writes His First Novel". Time.
  34. ^ "Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West". Random House. Retrieved May 27, 2014.
  35. ^ Ryan Faughner (May 29, 2014). "'Maleficent' likely to curse 'A Million Ways to Die in the West'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  36. ^ Pamela McClintock (May 28, 2014). "Box-Office Preview: 'Maleficent' Set to Curse 'Million Ways to Die in the West'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  37. ^ "A Million Ways to Die in the West". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  38. ^ "A Million Ways to Die in the West Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved May 30, 2014.
  39. ^ Claudia Puig (May 29, 2014). "'A Million Ways to Die' (laughing) in the West". USA Today. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  40. ^ Stephen Holden (May 29, 2014). "A Frontier Farce From the Guy Behind 'Family Guy'". The New York Times. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  41. ^ Andrew O'Hehir (May 29, 2014). ""A Million Ways to Die in the West": How Seth MacFarlane became the new Adam Sandler". Salon. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  42. ^ Rafer Guzman (May 28, 2014). "'A Million Ways to Die in the West' review: Crass but funny". Newsday. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  43. ^ Scott Mendelson (May 29, 2014). "Review: Seth MacFarlane's 'A Million Ways To Die In The West' Shoots Blanks". Forbes. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  44. ^ Michael O’Sullivan (May 29, 2014). "'A Million Ways to Die in the West' movie review". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  45. ^ Mike McCahill (May 29, 2014). "A Million Ways to Die in the West review – more City Slickers than Blazing Saddles". The Guardian. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  46. ^ a b Michael Phillips (May 29, 2014). "Review: 'A Million Ways to Die in the West' 1/2 star". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved May 29, 2014. Cite error: The named reference "ct" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  47. ^ Scott Foundas (May 28, 2014). "Film Review: 'A Million Ways to Die in the West'". Variety. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  48. ^ Rene Rodriguez (May 29, 2014). "'A Million Ways to Die in the West'". Miami Herald. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  49. ^ John DeFore (May 28, 2014). "'A Million Ways to Die in the West': Film Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  50. ^ Joe Morgensternn (May 29, 2014). "'We Are the Best!': Delicious Discord in the Key of Life". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved May 29, 2014.
  51. ^ "'A Million Ways to Die in the West' Soundtrack Details". Film Music Reporter. May 13, 2014. Retrieved May 22, 2014.
  52. ^ Staskiewicz, Keith (April 28, 2014). "Seth MacFarlane's galloping theme song for 'A Million Ways to Die in the West': Hear the Alan Jackson tune -- EXCLUSIVE". Entertainment Weekly.
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