Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana, who wrote the Oscar-winning screenplay for Brokeback Mountain, "are in the midst of two major period Western feature films projects," Deadline.com reported. The duo are adapting The Color of Lightning by Paulette Jiles for Ridley Scott to direct, and they "are at the center of a new deal at Warner Bros. to adapt the S. C. Gwynne book Empire of the Summer Moon into a film that will be directed by Crazy Heart helmer Scott Cooper."
Although Westerns have been a rare commodity in Hollywood recently, "that could change with the upcoming Joel and Ethan Coen-directed True Grit, which brings back he charm of the genre," Deadline.com noted.