Alumni News

Hansen’s Book Becomes Hollywood Movie

If Ron Hansen were a movie critic, he would give The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford a big thumbs-up.

The Creighton alumnus is well-acquainted with the script. In fact, you could say he wrote the book on it.

Hansen, a 1970 Creighton graduate, is the critically acclaimed author of the book by the same title, published in 1983.

"There was an immediate interest in its cinematic possibilities," Hansen said. "Through the years, I was approached by other directors and studios, and a script was even commissioned, but getting the financing was the chief difficulty. You're talking tens of millions of dollars for such a film."

Cue the swinging saloon doors; enter Brad Pitt.

The Hollywood megastar expressed interest in bringing the book to the big screen in 2004, and Warner Bros. gave its OK in the summer of 2005.

Hansen doubts the movie would have been made without the support of its leadings actors - Pitt, who plays Jesse James, and Casey Affleck, who plays Robert Ford.

The movie was released in October. Hansen's review?

"It's superb, a masterpiece," Hansen said. "I couldn't have hoped for a finer adaptation."

The Omaha native had a chance to spend some time on the set.

"I was in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, for three days, and Calgary for four," Hansen said. "I don't think I ever stopped grinning as I watched the actors play their parts. Brad and Casey especially were amazing."

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is Hansen's second novel. He took three years researching and writing the book, reading everything about James he could get his hands on, including daily Kansas City newspapers of the era. Hansen said he was attracted to the story by James' cult celebrity. "And he was the first person I know of who was assassinated - the word favored over 'murdered' back then - by someone who actually admired him, something I witnessed when John Lennon was shot down by a fan on my birthday in 1980."

Hansen is currently the Gerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. Professor in the Arts and Humanities at Santa Clara University. His first novel, Desperadoes, was published in 1979. He was twice a finalist for a PEN/Faulkner Award, for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and for Atticus (1996), a 1997 National Book Award finalist.

In January 2007, Hansen, who holds a master's degree in spirituality from Santa Clara, was ordained a Permanent Deacon for the Diocese of San Jose. His newest historical novel, Exiles, about the Jesuit poet Gerard Manley Hopkins and his poem "The Wreck of the Deutschland" will be published in April 2008.