Alexander Payne Dishes on ‘Election’ Sequel, Upcoming Western With ‘Holdovers’ Scribe and Dream of Doing ‘a Good Car Chase Film’
variety.comChristopher Vourlias Two-time Academy Award winner Alexander Payne (“The Holdovers”) teased the upcoming sequel to his beloved black comedy “Election” Sunday in Sarajevo while dishing on his desire to dabble in genre, sharing more details of an upcoming Western while also expressing his hopes “to do a good car chase film.” Payne, who’s appearing at the Sarajevo Film Festival to receive a lifetime achievement award, gave an update on the anticipated sequel to his 1999 adaptation of the novel by Tom Perrotta, starring Reese Witherspoon as the ruthless go-getter Tracy Flick.
Paramount is reported to be developing a sequel for streaming service Paramount+, “Tracy Flick Can’t Win,” based on Perrotta’s follow-up novel, published in 2022, with Witherspoon reprising her iconic role and Payne tapped to direct. “There is talk.
Jim Taylor and I are conceiving that now,” Payne said on Sunday, describing conversations with his longtime collaborator, also in attendance. “If there were to be a sequel to ‘Election,’ what would that look like?” The Oscar winner also opened up about an upcoming Western he’s creating with “The Holdovers” writer David Hemingson, citing Anthony Mann (“Winchester ’73”) as an influence while keeping details of the film’s plot under wraps. “It would be nice to take a realistic/naturalistic approach to a Western, and also using landscape, in as much as a sense of place is important in the films I do,” he said.
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