So what's next for Scott Cooper, after his surprise success with Crazy Heart? According to Robert Duvall it could well be a Western for Warner Bros. The Hatfields and the McCoys, based on the true story of a legendary feud in the 1800s, is currently "an excellent script" by Eric Roth (Benjamin Button), with roles specifically earmarked for Duvall and Brad Pitt.
The unlikely saga, which unfolded over thirteen years in West Virginia, began with a murder, detoured around a legal dispute over ownership of a pig, and escalated into stabbings, shootings, executions and arson. There's also a star cross'd love affair in there. Just like the Montagues and the Capulets. Or indeed, the Hillys and the Billys out of The Beezer.
All the ingredients for a top-notch Western drama anyway, which with Cooper at the helm would hopefully be more The Assassination of Jesse James than Appaloosa. Pitt's involvement is just at the "it would be nice if" stage at the moment, and will happen "when and if he decides to clear a place in his schedule". He's got Moneyball to deal with first, and those Sherlock Holmes Moriarty rumours are still not going away.