Press Release

November 18, 2015 | By Cole Hatcher

Robert Olmstead’s award-winning western, 'Far Bright Star,' is scheduled to be made into a film.

The Hollywood Reporter: Ohio Wesleyan Professor’s Book to be Made into a Movie Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Directed by Casey Affleck

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Ohio Wesleyan University professor Robert Olmstead’s book “Far Bright Star” is being made into a movie starring Joaquin Phoenix of “Walk the Line” and “Gladiator” and directed by Casey Affleck of “Interstellar” and “Gone Baby Gone.”

Olmstead, a professor of English and director of OWU’s Creative Writing Program, is still absorbing the big news. “As you can imagine, right now I am pretty overwhelmed by it all,” he says.

“Far Bright Star,” released in 2009, is set in 1916 and dramatically tells the story of a cavalry’s search for Pancho Villa. After its release, Olmstead’s book was named one of the Top Ten Westerns of the Decade by Booklist, the magazine of the American Library Association.

Of the story, Affleck tells Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit: “This is a beautifully written story on pain and loss and the drive and resilience one finds within themselves to continue through the day.”

Read the complete Hollywood Reporter article, “Casey Affleck to Direct Joaquin Phoenix in Western ‘Far Bright Star.’

Learn more about OWU’s Olmstead and the Creative Writing Program.