"I saw that I'd get nowhere on the straight path, and that to go crookedly was straighter."
—Nikolai Gogol, 'Dead Souls.'

From out of the dusty, sun-drenched Old West... by way of frozen provincial Russia of 1842, and a 21st-Century production company in Spain, comes "Dead Mexicans," a tale of mystery, danger, intrigue, politics and humor, "with a little weirdness thrown in."

The inspiration for the film comes from the Russian author Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol (1809-1852), a novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the grotesque in his writings, which have also been noted for their proto-surrealist qualities. Gogol used the technique of defamiliarization, when a writer presents common things in an unfamiliar or strange way so that the reader can gain new perspectives and see the world differently. His greatest work, the the satirical epic Dead Souls, satirized political corruption in Russia, and became a classic of world literature.

Gogol's contemporaries came to regard him as a great satirist who lampooned the unseemly sides of Imperial Russia. His influence has been acknowledged by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, Ryũnosuke Akutagawa, Franz Kafka, Mikhail Bulgakov, Vladimir Nabokov, Flannery O'Connor and others. Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé said: "We all came out from under Gogol's Overcoat." This veneration was passed down the generations to writers like Mel Brooks, who said, "I'd never read anything like it. It was hysterically funny and incredibly moving at the same time. It's like Gogol stuck a pen in his heart, and it didn't even go through his mind on its way to the page. It truly raised the bar of what I considered to be important writing."¹ A generation after Brooks, a writer/director named Alex Cox was similarly moved and inspired. He loved the book as much as he loved the Spaghetti Westerns he watched in Engish cinemas. Eventually he would combine these two obsessions into one work, moving the location of the story from Tsarist Russia to the Old West in the late 19th Century.

"You can't imagine how stupid the whole world has grown nowadays. The things these scribblers write!"
—Nikolai Gogol, 'Dead Souls.'

In the early 2000s, Cox met his hero Gianni Garko at the Venice Film Festival. Garko is one of the giants of the Italian Western, who in 1966 created the character of Sartana, and transformed him from a demented villain in '$1,000 On The Black' (aka 'Blood at Sundown') into the heroic gambler protagonist of several highly-regarded subsequent films.

Cox and Garko maintained a friendship through the decades and in 2024, Cox revealed to Garko that he was developing a Western for him to star in: "When I began this project I immediately asked him to play Strindler. Gianni considered the role, and we went back and forth at great length about his character. In fact, I have never had such in-depth discussions about a role with any actor. He re-read 'Dead Souls' and challenged me repeatedly about who the protagonist was, Strindler's moral failings, and what he was trying to accomplish. Eventually Gianni decided that he couldn't play the role. He's even older than I am, and our super-low-budget schedule is dementedly fast." But Garko did concede to Cox that given all the work he put into the screenplay, he would accept a co-screenwriter credit. "So the script of my last movie is a co-production of Gianni Garko, and me," says Cox. "It's an honor to share the credit."

"My 'last movie' is a Western version of Nicolai Gogol's Dead Souls. This is a great book, full of irony, mystery and meaning. I plan to shoot this fall in two locations—Almería, Spain, and Tucson, Arizona... In some ways my last movie is a classic European or "Spaghetti" Western. But it's other things too. It's a celebration of the tenacity of its protagonist, of Gogol's novel, and of the fantastic landscapes of Tucson and Tabernas... As with some of my other films, there is both humour and politics. Plus weirdness."
—Writer/Director Alex Cox

Originally, Cox was thinking in terms of a black and white film, but over time the DPs and Cox veered towards "She Wore A Yellow Ribbon colour with one black and white flashback." Cox has used classic Western backdrops in the past, such as Monument Valley for his film, Searchers 2.0, but two picturesque areas used in classic color 20th Century western films immediately sprang to Cox's mind: "The story begins in a nameless place in the Arizona Territory, in 1890," says director and co-writer Alex Cox. But the actual filming of the town will take place across Spanish deserts, California ghost towns and even snow-covered animation sets. "For these opening scenes I've been able to lock down Mescal Movie Set, in southern Arizona. Mescal is a great location with many practical interiors. Notable films were made here: The Outlaw Josey Wales, Tombstone and The Quick and the Dead." Filming was scheduled for the Fall of 2024. "The Western I'm about to direct is scheduled for eighteen days," announced Cox on his website. "Five of them in Spain, eleven in Arizona, and two in California... we'll still have to go fast, shooting four and a half pages on an average day. Straight to Hell was shot in four weeks; Repo Man took six; Walker was filmed in nine. The longest shoot I ever undertook was for Love Kills a.k.a. Sid & Nancy: eleven weeks: enough time to shoot two films, at least!"

The Almería Western Film Festival in the village of Tabernas (known as the cradle of the "Spaghetti Western"), Spain. This annual festival is where Cox, the producers, actors and other contributors met and would reconnect over the years, and where they eventually hatched this film. Shooting commenced at the close of this, the 14th edition, on Oct 10-13, 2024.²

Almería, Spain, and the nearby Tabernas Desert, in particular, are important locations to Cox. In 1976, he stole a 16 mm Bolex camera from UCLA and went there to photograph the Western sets for his short film The Black Hills. Ten years later, he returned as a full-fledged filmmaker for Straight to Hell, which he shot using sets constructed for 1971's The Valdez Horses. "Straight to Hell was an adobe town, and it has, over the years, melted back into the earth," Cox reports. "But adjacent to that location is the town [Sergio] Leone built For A Few Dollars More, where we're shooting." Leone built the set as a Spanish stand-in for El Paso, Texas, and now Cox is using that same location to represent El Paso again, for Dead Mexicans.³

The project was funded by fans through Kickstarter in June and July of 2024. Cox says, "Crowdfunding really is the most effective way right now for filmmakers to connect with the audience, and find funding for the films they want to make—as opposed to going a more conventional route and making more conventional projects. Studios and large financiers tend to make a certain type of film, dependent on big stars, superhero franchises, or talking animals. But there is more to cinema than this! Cinema should also embrace ambiguity, and irony, and unusual approaches which go beyond the hero/villain/talking animal model. Crowdfunding has enabled me, Phil Tippett, Dario Argento, Lloyd Kaufman, and other really good filmmakers to connect with people who like our work, to share the process with them, and to make new, original films."

Cox continues, "Crowdfunding also produces a film which is project-driven, or director-driven, rather than made as a 'star vehicle.' It's a rare opportunity for a filmmaker to be able to cast the film right, with the best actors available." Cox credits collaborators Guillermo de Oliveira and Zack Coffman, "who have shown me the way to properly crowdfund a feature." He adds, "Merritt Crocker—who was my partner on Tombstone Rashomon—will be the Arizona producer and editor." As for the cast, "Sy Richardson, the actor I met in UCLA days, who starred in Repo Man, Straight to Hell, Walker, Searchers 2.0 and more, has joined our cast. Zander Schloss, Sarah Vista, Del Zamora, Eric Schumacher, Karen Wright, and Ed Tudor Pole have all agreed to appear in the film. It's an eclectic mix of talent, going as far back as Repo Man and as recent as Cox's last film, Tombstone Rashomon. "The first stage of our production is El Paso, and the canyons of the Tabernas desert (shown below). Thence to Mescal, and the gran finale: the breathtaking Saguaro Desert, outside Tucson."

Filming in different countries also affected the casting, however. It meant that the film no longer met the Screen Actors Guild's requirements for a low-budget independent film, so that SAG actors like Richardson would no longer be able to perform in the production. While this eliminated the ability to use some of Cox's regular company, it opened up the possibility of finding new, undiscovered talent to unleash.

Once the money was raised, a script reading with members of the cast was held at the Almería Western Film Festival,² performed in the Carriage Hall at Fort Bravo, Texas Hollywood, near Tabernas, Spain, on 10/12/2024 (the Saturday before the first day of shooting on the surrounding sets). L-R in the lights: Dick Rude, Merritt Crocker, Ed Tudor Pole, Alex Cox, Javier Arnal, (unidentified), Zander Schloss, and Sarah Vista (and possibly Clint Eastwood on horseback, visible through the window). Cox reported afterwards: "Said reading went very well. It was, in fact, the best script reading I have ever heard." (That says a lot when there were probably people in the audience who didn't speak any English.)

Photo by Mark Parascandola Photography (mark@parascandola.com)

NOTES ON THIS PAGE

¹—"How 'Dead Souls' Taught Mel Brooks What Comedy Writing Could Be" (New York Times, 10 Nov 2022)
Q: "What's the best book you've ever received as a gift?
A: "When I was a young fledgling comedy writer working for Sid Caesar on 'Your Show of Shows,' our head writer was Mel Tolkin, real name Shmuel Tolshinsky. I really looked up to him. (By the way, I was 5-foot-7 and he was six feet tall.) He was a bona fide intellectual, thoroughly steeped in the traditions of great Russian literature. One day he handed me a book. He said to me, 'Mel, you're an animal from Brooklyn, but I think you have the beginnings of something called a mind. The book was 'Dead Souls,' by the magnificent genius Nikolai Gogol. It was a revelation. I'd never read anything like it. It was hysterically funny and incredibly moving at the same time. It's like Gogol stuck a pen in his heart, and it didn't even go through his mind on its way to the page. It truly raised the bar of what I considered to be important writing. It was a life-changing gift, and I still read it once a year to remind myself of what great comic writing can be."

²—¡Aquí está el cartel oficial de la 14ª edición de Almería Wéstern Film Festival! Este tríptico collage, diseñado por Celia Coe, rinde homenaje al icónico director italiano Sergio Leone. "Con la presentación del póster, el festival se prepara para una edición que promete ser tanto un viaje al pasado como un foco crítico de temas cruciales que afectan a Almería y su entorno," comenta la autora. "El póster es un relato panorámico que viaja desde el blanco y negro al color, con el Desierto de Tabernas y la figura de Leone en el centro, hasta el empoderamiento femenino y los tres temas que destacan esta edición, reflejando el compromiso ético y social del festival," afirma el director del festival, Juan Francisco Viruega. (#14AWFF organizado por @tabernas_ayto con la colaboración de @oasysminihollywood / @fortbravooficial) Translation: Here is the official poster for the 14th edition of Almería Wéstern Film Festival! This triptych collage, designed by Celia Coe, pays tribute to the iconic Italian director Sergio Leone. "With the presentation of the poster, the festival is preparing for an edition that promises to be both a trip to the past and a critical focus on crucial issues that affect Almería and its surroundings," comments the artist. "The poster is a panoramic story that travels from black and white to color, with the Tabernas Desert and the figure of Leone in the center, to female empowerment and the three themes that highlight this edition, reflecting the ethical and social commitment of the festival," says the festival director, Juan Francisco Viruega. (#14AWFF organized by @tabernas_ayto with the collaboration of @oasysminihollywood / @fortbravooficial) Also, "ALEX COX EN MINIHOLLYWOOD REGRESO AL DESIERTO" by David Miralles, El Interrogatorio, on Instagram.

³—"Go West: Alex Cox on making his last movie and the re-release of his first" by Michael J. Casey (Boulder Weekly, 28 Aug 2024): "Like Tombstone-Rashomon, Cox's latest endeavor is crowdfunded. What's different is the attention. 'Normally, if I was doing my last movie, that would end up in Hollywood Reporter and in the Guardian in England,' Cox says. 'But because of the basis of the piece, it hasn't been mentioned anywhere in the mainstream media.' That basis: the 1842 Russian novel by Nikolai Gogol, Dead Souls. 'In terms of alternative media and in terms of the public reaction, the response to this has been far better than either of the crowdfunders I did,' he says. 'Which really encourages me. Because, although the governments of the U.S. and England are really trying to gee up the population and get them ready for a war with Russia, there's no support for it at all in the population.' That's how Cox came to Dead Souls and Russian literature in the first place. The more 'we were being told we should hate the Russians and despise Russian culture,' the more he became interested in what the Russians had produced. So Cox started with Dostoevsky and Tolstoy and found them 'quite amazing.' Then came Dead Souls. 'It's so lively, so interesting, the characters are so good,' he says. 'This was the thing that you could turn into a Western.'"