First Look at Natalie Portman & Joel Edgerton in JANE GOT A GUN

The upcoming western Jane Got A Gun had one of the most troubled productions I can remember for a mainstream release. Original director Lynne Ramsay never showed up to work on the first day of shooting, causing big delays and ripple effects that included Jude Law leaving the film altogether. But star Natalie Portman stuck around, Warrior director Gavin O'Connor was hired as Ramsay's replacement, and after finally replacing Law with Ewan McGregor, they all managed to pull things together and get rolling on this project.

Now Empire has some first-look photos from the film. I'm really hoping that this turns into a situation similar to the one that happened with Brad Pitt's zombie film World War Z: that production was also plagued with on-set turmoil and featured some huge reshoots, but it turned out to be a pretty solid piece of entertainment despite all of its behind-the-scenes issues. Mainstream westerns are rare these days, so here's hoping Jane Got A Gun is best remembered for being an awesome movie rather than for the troubles it had getting to the finish line. After a handful of delays, the film is currently slated for release on September 4th.

Here's the official synopsis:

Natalie Portman stars as Jane, who rebuilds her life with new husband Bill (Noah Emmerich) after being tormented by an outlaw gang led by Collin (McGregor). But things get ugly again when the husband has a fresh run-in with the gang, leaving Jane little choice but to ask her ex-fiance (Edgerton) for help.