True Grit (1969 film) Their adaptation focuses more on Mattie's point of view, as in the novel, and is more faithful to its Oklahoma setting. Hailee Steinfeld portrays Mattie Ross, Jeff Bridges plays Rooster Cogburn, and the cast also includes Matt Damon as La Boeuf and Josh Brolin as Tom Chaney. True Grit (1969 film) True Grit is a 1969 American western film directed by Henry Hathaway and starring Kim Darby as Mattie Ross and John Wayne as U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn. It is the first film adaptation of Charles Portis' 1968 novel of the same name. The screenplay was written by Marguerite Roberts.
True Grit (1969 film) about playing the part of Rooster Cogburn, but as production got closer, Wayne got jumpy—he didn't have a handle on how to play Rooster Cogburn. He was, of course, nervous because the part was out of his comfort zone and hadn't been specifically tailored to his screen character by one of his in-house screenwriters. Henry Hathaway, who directed the film, was able to calm Wayne's doubts, most notably concerning the eye patch which was made of gauze allowing Wayne to see. John Wayne thought the picture had been edited too tightly by Hathaway. Nevertheless, in May 1969, a few weeks