FAMILIES OF BLOOD! 'HATFIELDS & McCOYS'

Family feuds! Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton ignite the screen in HATFIELDS & McCOYS. Images: THE HISTORY CHANNEL.

Making a welcome return to the genre he has loved so much and brought to the screen in classic starring and directed westerns like the phenomenally successful and enduring, Academy Award winning DANCES WITH WOLVES, as well as lavish biopic WYATT EARP and the subtly tragic and romantic OPEN RANGE, iconic star and film-maker Kevin Costner brings his range and diversity to the small screen as the grizzled lead of the acclaimed States-side epic six hour mini-series HATFIELDS & McCOYS, building on the fresh, if dark, spirit and gritty atmosphere that has come further to the fore recently by the likes of DEADWOOD (of which its producer Ted Mann contributes on this projects writing pool) and HELL ON WHEELS. Alongside Costner for the ride back into the frontier realms, and residing comfortably in the directorial saddle, is his long time friend and buddy Kevin Reynolds. (The pair having worked successfully, if stormily, together on past hits ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES and the controversial but under-rated sci-fi adventure/pirate movie WATERWORLD.)

Packing vengeance: Kevin Costner as "Devil" Anse Hatfield.

Blood begets blood. Bill Paxton as Randall McCoy.

Clutching his pipe and shotgun, Costner, now well and truly into the great and true experience of character acting, brings an older but certainly not wiser, meaner quality to his performance as "Devil' Anse Hatfield, caught in a years-spanning, revenge fuelled blood feud with American Civil War enemy and rival Randall McCoy (APOLLO 13 and TITANIC's Bill Paxton) during the fallout from a tense conflict initiated during the American Civil War. Soon both sides families are intrinsically and inescapably linked to their inner and outer conflicts in this epic and multi-layered story of tragedy, violence and hatred spanning 19th century West Virginia, within a period of history already burdened under the weight of so much hardship and crimson coloured wheat fields.

And you thought your family was bad? Trailer: Hatfields and McCoys Theatrical Trailer - History Channel - http://film-book.com - YouTube

Where would a good TV western be without Powers Boothe, eh?

Sarah Parish as Levicy Hatfield. 

Trouble at the town gathering? Andrew Howard as "Bad" Frank Philips. 

Hatfield and friends riding into more violence.

With a super supporting cast including UK star Sarah Parish (having caught American casting eyes with her evil and manipulative role in THE PILLARS OF THE EARTH), Mare Winningham, Tom Berenger (back in the public eye after his appearance in Christopher Nolan's INCEPTION) and DEADWOOD's Powers Booth, HATFIELDS & McCOYS, originally made by the HISTORY CHANNEL in the US, based on a true story, this 3 part audience record breaker looks set to be an epic of fine but also highly brutal drama, evocative atmosphere and compelling acting to savour when it arrives on British shores on CHANNEL 5 next month. Hatred has never been so interesting...