Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis are directing a Western film, starring John C Reilly as William Frederick Cody/Buffalo Bill, reports Variety. Titled Heads or Tails?it is based on a real incident from Bill’s time in Italy. The film’s cast also includes French actor Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Italian actor Alessandro Borghi, and Argentinian Peter Lanzani.
Butteri, a class of cowboys from Italy, have a longstanding association with the famous frontier man and buffalo hunter and the heritage of the US Wild West. The famous man produced the namesake Buffalo Bill Wild West Showa traveling program about the lives of frontiersmen and frontierwomen. In 1890, he brought the program to Naples, Italy, and visited Rome for his European tour. It helped popularise the image of the American West in Europe. The “wild frontier experience” that the show offered was a chance for Europeans to see firsthand the excitement and adventure of the American frontier.
Heads or Tails? is strongly influenced by a bet placed near Rome between Buffalo Bill’s American cowboys and Italian cowboys. The bet was to determine which team was superior at taming wild horses, and according to Italian folklore, the Italian team won.
The film combines historical elements (Buffalo Bill’s visit) with a fictional love story and a mystery surrounding a murder. The central plot revolves around Rosa (Tereszkiewicz) and Santino (Borghi), who are forced to escape and navigate a dangerous world while trying to uncover the truth behind the murder.
Tommaso Bertani of Ring Film and Alex C Lo of Cinema Inutile produced the film alongside RAI Cinema. It is now in postproduction.
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