Alexander Payne touched down at the Sarajevo Film Festival on Sunday where he shed some light on his next project – a Western which will reunite the writer-director with The Holdovers scribe David Hemingson. 

Speaking at a masterclass at the Bosnian Cultural Center, Payne, whose last project The Holdovers earned five Oscar nominations, told the audience that he wanted to explore different genres from the types of films he has made so far.

“The one genre I’ve wanted to do is a Western,” said Payne. “So, right now while Jim [Taylor] and I are talking about a sequel to Election, with a different writer – the guy who wrote The Holdovers [David Hemingson], we have been conceiving a Western for years now.” 

He added: “It would be nice to take a kind of realistic-slash-naturalistic approach to a Western and also using landscape. In as much as sense of place is important…part of my interest is having even greater dramatic, archetypical interplay between character and landscape. I think it’s really interesting. Also, I’d like to do a good car chase film.”

Payne said he’d been inspired by the work of U.S. director Anthony Mann, who frequently collaborated with James Stewart in the 1950s, making Western films such as Winchester ’73 and Bend of the River.

“You can really study the connections between the characters and the drama in the foreground and how the shifting landscape reflects the story,” he said.

It’s been 25 years since Payne made Election, based on the novel of the same name by Tom Perrotta. Payne directed and co-wrote that film with Taylor and while it was previously announced that a sequel was in the works at Paramount+ with Reese Witherspoon returning to her role as Tracy Flick, Payne admitted that a sequel, which will be based on Perrotta’s newest novel Tracy Flick Can’t Win, was still in the early stages.

“There is talk and Jim Taylor and I are conceding that now,” said Payne. “If there were to be a sequel to Election, what would that look like?”

When asked about budgets and the impact a film’s budget can have on the creative elements of a film, Payne said he enjoys working on lower budget films, pointing to his 2013 film Nebraska, which was made for $13.5M.  

“I want low budgets because freedom lies in the lower budgets,” he said. “The more expensive a movie is – anywhere in the world – the more they control that money. They’re going to want to try and influence you and even if you’re strong and can fight their influences, still they seep in, and you don’t want anyone really talking to you while you’re making the film, especially people who are only thinking about money. And they way to do that is by purposely keeping the costs low. I want low budgets. I don’t want anyone thinking about what I’m doing.” 

He continued: “Stanley Kubrick was the same and kept his budgets low so people would leave him the hell alone.” 

Payne is in Sarajevo this week to receive the Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award at the festival this year, in recognition of his contribution to cinema.  The writer-director will also present a special screening of Paul Giamatti starrer Sideways at the festival. 

The Sarajevo Film Festival runs August 16-23.