Hatfields & McCoys Information

Hatfields & McCoys is a 2012 American three-part television miniseries based on the Hatfield-McCoy feud produced by History channel. Each episode aired for two hours on May 28, 29, and 30, 2012.

Cast and characters

• Bill Paxton as Randolph "Randall" McCoy, leader of the McCoys.
• Kevin Costner as William Anderson "Devil Anse" Hatfield, leader of the Hatfields.
• Tom Berenger as Jim Vance, uncle of Devil Anse.
• Powers Boothe as Judge Valentine "Wall" Hatfield, Devil Anse's brother.
• Mare Winningham as Sally McCoy, Randall's wife.
• Jena Malone as Nancy McCoy, Randall's niece.
• Boyd Holbrook as William "Cap" Hatfield, Devil Anse's second son.
• Lindsay Pulsipher as Roseanna McCoy, Randall's daughter.
• Ronan Vibert as Perry Cline, a lawyer and cousin of Randall.
• Matt Barr as Johnson "Johnse" Hatfield, Devil Anse's oldest son.
• Noel Fisher as Ellison "Cotton Top" Mounts, Ellison Hatfield's son
• Sam Reid as Tolbert McCoy, Randall's son.
• Andrew Howard as "Bad" Frank Phillips, a bounty hunter.
• Jilon VanOver as Ransom Bray, a bounty hunter.
• Sarah Parish as Levicy Hatfield, Devil Anse's wife.
• Joe Absolom as Selkirk McCoy
• Tom McKay as Jim McCoy, Randall's oldest son.
• Michael Jibson as Phamer McCoy, Randall's son.
• Greg Patmore as Elias "Good 'Lias" Hatfield
• Damian O'Hare as Ellison Hatfield, Devil Anse's brother.
• Nick Dunning as Reverend Garrett

Production

The miniseries was History's first aired scripted drama (the network had previously produced a scripted miniseries in 2011, The Kennedys, but decided against airing it in the US).

Although the story is set in the Appalachians in West Virginia and Kentucky, the miniseries was shot in Romania, just outside Bra?ov with the Carpathians standing in for the Appalachians.

Music

The score for the series was composed by John Debney and Tony Morales, with additional music by Kevin Costner and Modern West. The soundtrack features vocals performed by Lisbeth Scott on The Long Road Down.

Reception

Critical reception

The miniseries met with favorable reviews from US critics. Based on 20 reviews from mainstream critics, it received an average score of 68/100 at Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Linda Stasi of the New York Post commented: "When I first heard about it, my thought was: Why? But that was before I sat through all six hours of this intense saga. Most miniseries this long tend to lose steam somewhere between the beginning of Night 1 and the middle of Night 2. Not this one...The miniseries is full of stand-out performances from great actors... But it's the guys you may not know who will blow you away." Entertainment Weekly Ken Tucker gave the series a B+, stating: "In stretching the tale over three nights, the pacing sags at times, and recriminations can get repetitive. It also doesn't help that Reynolds shot the miniseries in that perpetual sepia tone that gives everything a faux-antique look. But overall, Hatfields & McCoys is engrossing, and enlightening about a feud that proves to be a lot more than the bumpkin brawl of pop legend." Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times stated: "Although deftly nailed into its time and place with sets and costumes so vivid you can smell the blue wood smoke and the stink of moonshine sweat, Hatfields & McCoys transcends the confines of its age by revealing the feud's posturing, resentments and callous violence that mirror the dynamics of modern urban gangs... It isn't a perfect piece "? when faced with a choice between historic detail and story, Hatfields & McCoys errs on the side of detail, which is both the series' greatest strength and weakness."

Among the negative critics was Verne Gay of Newsday who called the series "violent and dull", adding "What's not to like about Hatfields & McCoys? Simple: the story. It's an uninteresting one, peopled with almost criminally bland characters. In fact, as portrayed here - quite possibly accurately - they're a bunch of bibulous knuckleheads who shoot at each other year after year - or on TV, hour after hour - and have no real idea why. It's an interminable eye-for-eye, tooth-for-tooth narrative." Washington Posts Hank Stuever also gave a negative review: "The point of the entire saga, it seems, is to make you lose track of what the feudin' was about, and how it managed to burn out of control. It will always be tempting to view their story through any modern analogy of one's choosing - such as partisan political stalemates or the red-blue socioeconomic divide. But maybe the story of the Hatfields and McCoys doesn't amount to anything at all. Maybe, since it also doesn't make much of miniseries, it was meant to be a footnote and nothing more."

Accolades

Hatfields & McCoys received 16 nominations at the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, the most since the History Channel began operations. The series was nominated for Outstanding Miniseries or Movie. Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton were both nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie, with Costner winning the award. Tom Berenger won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie and Mare Winningham was nominated for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie. Director Kevin Reynolds was nominated for Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special. Ted Mann, Ronald Parker, and Bill Kerby were nominated for Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special for the second part of the miniseries. The series won three of its nine technical nominations.

Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2nd Critics' Choice Television Awards	Best Movie/Miniseries Actor	Kevin Costner
17th Satellite Awards	Best Miniseries or Television Film
	Best Actor in a Miniseries or Television Film	Kevin Costner
	Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries, or Television Film	Mare Winningham
19th Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie	Kevin Costner
		Bill Paxton
28th TCA Awards	Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries, and Specials
64th Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Miniseries or Movie	Barry M. Berg, Kevin Costner, Herb Nanas, Vlad Paunescu, Nancy Dubuc, Dirk Hoogstra, Leslie Greif, and Darrell Fetty
	Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or Movie	Kevin Costner
		Bill Paxton
	Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or Movie	Tom Berenger
	Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie	Mare Winningham
	Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special	Kevin Reynolds
	Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Dramatic Special	Bill Kerby Ted Mann Ronald Parker for "Part 2"
64th Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards	Outstanding Art Direction for a Miniseries or Movie	Serban Porupca, Derek R. Hill, John B. Vertrees, and Sally Black
	Outstanding Casting for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special	Fern Champion and Amy Hubbard
	Outstanding Costumes for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special	Karri Hutchinson and Adina Bucur
	Outstanding Hairstyling for a Miniseries or Movie	Gabriele Gregorini, Peter Nicastro, and Giorgio Gregorini
	Outstanding Make-up for a Miniseries or Movie (Non-Prosthetic)	Francesca Tampieri and Mario Michisanti
	Outstanding Music Composition for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special (Original Dramatic Score)	John Debney and Tony Morales for "Part 1"
	Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Miniseries or Movie	Don Cassidy for "Part 2"
	Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie, or Special	Tom Bjelic, John Laing, Darrell Hall, Steve Baine, Michael Mancuso, Dermain Finlayson, Dan Kiener, Kevin Banks, Emilie Boucek, Mark Dejczak, Alex Bullick, John Douglas Smith and Nathan Robitaille for "Part 1"
	Outstanding Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or Movie	Christian T. Cooke, Brad Zoern, Stanomir Dragos, and for "Part 1"
70th Golden Globe Awards	Best Miniseries or Television Film
	Best Actor - Miniseries or Television Film	Kevin Costner

Ratings

Part one drew the largest ever ratings for a History program and one of the biggest in cable TV history. 13.9 million viewers tuned into the first of three parts, making it the most-watched single broadcast on ad-supported cable ever, excluding sports. Demographic numbers were high as well, with 4.8 million viewers in the adults 18-49 demographic and 5.8 million viewers among adults 24-54. Part two was watched by 13.13 million viewers with an adult 18-49 rating of 3.7, the highest rated programming on cable of the night. Part three was watched by 14.29 million viewers with an adult 18-49 rating of 4.0, making it the number-one program of the night.

Effect on tourism

According to WYMT-TV in Hazard, Kentucky, the series has generated an increase in tourism to the area from people wanting to know about the feud. Pike County Tourism Vice Chair Reed Potter stated: "It's been beyond our expectations. We've been getting requests for brochures that tell about the feud sites and places people can visit at a rate today last I checked of about two per minute."

International broadcast

Country	Networks	Series premiere	Timeslot
	Channel 5	25/10/2012	21:00
	Space	14/01/2013	22:00
	Space	14/01/2013	22:00 The episodes have been split on Channel 5 and Space into hour-long segments rather than playing the two hours straight.
	Yle TV2	04/05/2014	21:00 Series are five parts and shown weekly.
	[[Canal+]]	21/07/2013	21:00
	Mega Channel	07/01/2014	22:30
	First Channel	27/12/2014	22:15
	TG4	04/09/2015	22:40

Home video release

The series was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc formats on July 31, 2012. The bonus material includes a music video of "I Know These Hills" from Kevin Costner and Modern West from their album Famous for Killing Each Other: Music From and Inspired By Hatfields & McCoys.