Texas City Native Hancock Inducted into Texas Film Hall of Fame

Texas City native Hancock inducted into Texas Film Hall of Fame
THE AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY HONORED filmmaker and Texas City native John Lee Hancock
with induction into the Texas Film Hall of Fame on Thursday night. The ceremony comes as
Hancock’s latest film, The Highwaymen, debuts at South By Southwest next week before
making its way to a larger audience on Netflix on March 29.
The Highwaymen, which stars Kevin Costner, Woody Harrelson and Kathy Bates, is based on
the Texas Rangers who eventually subdued the famed crime duo of Bonnie and Clyde in the
spring of 1934.
Hancock is best known for his writing and directing of The Blind Side, which premiered in 2009
and led to actress Sandra Bullock receiving an Academy Award for Best Actress. He previously
dipped into the sports scene with 2002’s The Rookie, which starred Dennis Quaid and was
based on the life of former high school teacher Jim Morris, who pitched briefly in the majors.
He has also directed The Alamo, Saving Mr. Banks and The Founder. Hancock also a writer for
the 1993 Clint Eastwood movie A Perfect World and 1997’s Midnight in the Garden of Good and
Evil.
“Maybe I’ve just outlived other people, and had a good degree of luck in terms of projects and
staying working for 30 years, but I’m grateful for it, however they came to the decision,”
Hancock told the Austin Chronicle last week.
The Highwaymen is one of the most anticipated films at the SXSW festival, which will present
over 145 films over the course of March 8-16. To play up the 1930s feel, Netflix opened up a
“speakeasy,” which opened on Saturday along with dates on Monday and Tuesday for the
public with RSVPs.
“I don’t necessarily go out and think ‘I want to do a Texas project,’” Hancock told Variety.com.
“That said, it’s always lovely to have Texas as a character, because it’s a real enigma. There’s
something about it that’s hard to put your finger on, it’s everything and nothing at the same time
sometimes. It can be frustrating and it can be amazing. It’s the only state with its own country.”
He will return to his Texas roots as a co-writer for The Goree Girls, based on a group of female
prisoners at the Goree Unit in Huntsville that became one of the first all-female country and
western bands in the nation. Currently in production, the film will feature Jennifer Anniston.
Hancock is also a writer for the upcoming science fiction movie Chaos Walking. The movie was
originally scheduled to be released on March 1, but Lionsgate Entertainment has yet to
announce a revised date.