‘The Big Valley’: Details on the Scrapped Reboot
Hollywood has seen success with reviving popular films and TV shows rather than inventing new ideas. One 1960s TV Western ripe for a reboot, The Big Valley, was set to be remade as a feature-length film. Some parts had already been cast, including A-list actors. However, the movie never began shooting. Prior to the Big Valley reboot, the director faced criminal charges.
‘The Big Valley’ reboot had big names lined up
A theatrical reboot of The Big Valley was proposed in 2010. Susan Sarandon was first considered for the lead role. Jessica Lange was also considered for the part. Other actors slated for the cast were Ryan Phillippe, Richard Dreyfuss, and Bruce Dern. It was to be remade as an indie feature by filmmakers Daniel Adams and Kate Edelman Johnson, MeTV reported.
However, production on the project never got off the ground. Before things began, the film’s potential director, Adams, was indicted for fraud related to issues with work he had done on two previous movies: The Lightkeepers and Golden Boy.
‘The Big Valley’ reboot director faced criminal charges
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Adams was eager to complete The Lightkeepers as 2009 ended. He was so eager that he allegedly fudged some numbers illegally. Adams was out of money long before the filming was completed, so he reportedly submitted false documents rather than halting production to obtain at least $4.7 million through exaggerated claims for Massachusetts tax credits on The Lightkeepers and Golden Boys. He was arrested, pleaded guilty to 10 counts related to embezzlement, and was sentenced to prison in 2012. He served 21 months behind bars and was sentenced to 10 years of probation.
Among the alleged false claims was that actor Richard Dreyfuss was paid $2.5 million for his role in The Lightkeepers when an investigation showed he was paid only $400,000. That’s surprising, given that he was slated to appear in the reboot of The Big Valley after being underpaid for a previous movie by the same director.
Adams again found himself in a similar situation in February 2019. The Securities and Exchange Commission claimed Adams and his business partner, Michael Flanders, made fraudulent claims to investors about the film An L.A. Minute.
Who was in the original cast of the TV series?
The Big Valley was a popular Western TV series airing on ABC from 1965 to 1969. It starred Barbara Stanwyck as Victoria Barkley, the matriarch of the wealthy Barkley family living in California’s San Joaquin Valley. It also featured a young Linda Evans as Barkley’s daughter Audra, Lee Majors as her stepson Heath, and Peter Breck as her son Nick.
Unlike other Western shows of that era, The Big Valley featured a woman as the lead. Stanwyck won an Emmy for Best Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Series following the first season. Over the next two years, she received nominations and was crowned America’s favorite TV actress by Photoplay magazine in 1967.
Perhaps some Hollywood execs will see the fraud fiasco as a missed opportunity and approach another director to make a feature-length film of The Big Valley. Indeed, the story of a strong woman who overcomes prejudice to continue operating her family ranch remains topical, maybe even more so than when the original TV series aired in the mid-’60s.
