Alex Cox: My "last movie" is a Western version of Nicolai Gogol's "Dead Souls". This is a great book, full of irony, mystery and meaning. I plan to shoot in two locations – Almería, Spain, and Tucson, Arizona. Our story begins in a nameless place in the Arizona Territory, in 1890. These opening scenes I’ll shoot at the Rancho Leone, the location Carlo Simi built for Sergio Leone in Once Upon a Time in the West. The destination of our swindler-hero Strindler is El Paso, Texas, where Johnny Behan is engaged in Government work. In 1965, Simi built “El Paso” for Leone, too. And it’s here that we’ll film these scenes. So the first stage of our production is in these two towns, and in the canyons of the Tabernas desert. Thence to Tucson, Arizona, where we'll film interiors, and the gran finale: the Saguaro desert, outside town. These are iconic locations, and they mean a lot to me, as a young filmgoer who grew up watching films made here, and as a filmmaker who has, over the years, grown to love both places. “Dead Souls” was Mel Brooks' favourite book. He said, "It was hysterically funny and incredibly moving at the same time." Gogol’s scurrilous protagonist, Chichikov, collects lists of dead serfs, anticipating of considerable gain. Our film's protagonist, Strindler, compiles a list of deceased Mexican nationals. Those who died on ranches, or in mines, or were shot by the sheriff’s posse. He pays for this information. No one knows how, but clearly there is money to be made…

In the main character's diary, he describes his life, his work, and the people around him. He goes on to write about his feelings for a woman, and soon after that he begins to show signs of insanity - he talks to her doggie Meji, he gets hold of letters that Meji wrote to another doggie. After a few days, he's already completely disconnected from reality...

A man is increasingly unnerved by a mysterious portrait. Based on a story by Nikolai Gogol, the film is thought to have run about 45 minutes long, but only an 8 minute fragment is known to have survived.

In war against the Poles, the leader Cossack sees itself betrayed by one of his threads, been in love the girl of an enemy.

1979年，在制作完《故事中的故事》之后，Yuriy Norshteyn开始构思自己的下一个动画。这部名叫《外套》的动画将是一部约60分钟的动画电影，它改编自俄国著名作家果戈理的同名小说。影片的进展非常缓慢，到了1986年，动画只完成了10分钟，后来Norshteyn在家乡成立了自己的工作室继续这部动画的制作。动画制作一直困难重重，虽然资金一直很紧张，但Norshteyn还是拒绝了俄国文化部的资助，并表示：一个人不能接受那些从不关心他的人的钱。1999年，Norshteyn的亲密战友，摄影师Aleksandr Zhukovskiy 去世，这给了Norshteyn沉重的打击，其后由Zhukovskiy的学生担当影片的摄影。2005年Norshteyn接受采访时表示，影片已经完成拍摄了25分钟（实际制作则更长）。Norshteyn追求完美的作风为他赢得了“金蜗牛”的称号，他拒绝了很多国外的机会，因为他觉得舒适的环境会消磨他的意志。如果Norshteyn在2012年任不无法完成这部动画，那么这部动画将超过Richard Williams的《小偷与鞋匠》，成为世界上制作周期最长的动画。