When Director James Mangold set out to make a sequel to his 2007 western 3:10 to Yuma,"" he had a specific setting in mind.
""Many westerns, mine included, focus so heavily on the standard tropes, sprawling vistas, rowdy saloons, lawless boomtowns, etc.,"" Mangold said in a Daily Cardinal interview. ""For this sequel, I want to depict the Old West more as it really was: born out of all-you-can-eat Chinese buffets.""
""But I didn't want to depict just any old frontier Chinese buffet: I needed one so wild that it also serves pizza,"" Mangold said.
And that is what led Mangold to shoot in Madison for his new film, ""3:10 to Yumy Buffet.""
Much like Michael Mann recently shooting ""Public Enemies"" in nearby Columbus' courthouse, the Madison shoot was motivated by a desire for on-location realism.
""I'm sure James could have created this setting in a studio or with computer trickery,"" ""3:10 to Yumy Buffet"" star Russell Crowe said while on-set and enjoying a traditional green jello cube. ""But he knows that, as an actor, there's no substitute for being in exactly the spot the kind of blokes we're playing would have been.""
The Buffet hasn't changed much since it was built by Chinese railroad laborers in 1847. Those founders longed for a taste of traditional Chinese cuisine, like the buttermilk biscuits it continues to serve today.
""3:10 to Yumy Buffet"" takes place a few years after the events of the first film, after Ben Wade (Crowe) has broken out of Yuma prison and headed to the American sin capital, Madison, Wis. Rancher Dan Evans (Christian Bale) is once again hired to track Wade down and deliver him into the Buffet right as the egg-drop soup ferments into poison - an event that has happened at exactly 3:10 p.m. throughout the Buffet's existence.
Mangold says while the Buffet is clearly the film's focal point, he also intends to make use of Madison's numerous well-preserved landmarks from its frontier history.
""We completely rewrote parts of the script to fit this amazing location. I mean, how could we pass up depicting the legendary Gunfight at Rising Sons Deli?""
""3:10 to Yumy Buffet"" will wrap principal photography next week, at which point Paul Thomas Anderson will arrive in Madison to begin shooting his new film, ""There Will Be Blued Velvet Lounge.""
