Frank Miller to Direct Buck Rogers?
A few years ago Frank Miller was a virtual unknown outside of the world of comic books. Sin City certainly changed everything. Miller’s adaptation of The Spirit hits theaters later this year, but what next? IGN reports that Miller will climb back into the directors chair to tackle a remake of Buck Rogers. Miller will supposedly tackle the project when he’s finished on The Spirit, however Nu Image have shot back with claims that no deal is yet in place.
Nu Image/Millennium Films plans to develop a $40 million film with genre veteran Flint Dille, who penned a Buck Rogers graphic novel in the 1990s, attached to write and produce. The current plan is to turn “the cheapness of the low-budget effects will be a running joke in the movie, which will retain the campiness of the 1980s TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century starring Gil Gerard.” My hope is that this approach doesn’t result in a slapstick tone.
For those of you who were born post-Back to the Future (I find a lot of generational entertainment is lost in people born of the internet generation), Buck Rogers was created in 1928 by Philip Nowlan. The basic premise is as follows: Rogers, a pilot/astronaut who falls into a coma, only to awaken in the twenty-fifth century. Best known from the long-running syndicated newspaper comic strip, Rogers also appeared in a 12-part 1939 movie serial, a 1979 television series, and in many other incarnations. The development of space technology in the twentieth century launched Buck Rogers into American pop culture.
Frank Miller Not Directing Buck Rogers
Last week, IGN reported that director Frank Miller would follow-up The Spirit with a remake of Buck Rogers, the “campy ’80s sci-fi TV series” most people under 30 have never thought about. Turns out, the writer-producer of the Buck Rogers film, Flint Dille, says Miller is definitely not directing it, leaving Nu Image/Millenium on the prowl for a new “contender” to launch the 80-year-old character into the Oughts. Interestingly, Dille said that he would still like to “meddle” with his pal Miller in the future. So, we’re left wondering, was Miller in and now he’s not?
It was also said last week that the film’s special effects will be purposely shoddy, a running gag of sorts. In all fairness, this could very well prove to be a stroke of genius, but my mind has laughed a little all week imagining dumbfounded American audiences (Grindhouse?) and poorly designed poorly designed laser guns. I was bored. In canon, Buck Rogers takes place in the 25th Century after Rogers, a pilot/astronaut wakes up from a nasty coma. More info on the flick as we get it…
Frank Miller to Direct Buck Rogers?
A few years ago Frank Miller was a virtual unknown outside of the world of comic books. Sin City certainly changed everything. Miller’s adaptation of The Spirit hits theaters later this year, but what next? IGN reports that Miller will climb back into the directors chair to tackle a remake of Buck Rogers. Miller will supposedly tackle the project when he’s finished on The Spirit, however Nu Image have shot back with claims that no deal is yet in place.
Nu Image/Millennium Films plans to develop a $40 million film with genre veteran Flint Dille, who penned a Buck Rogers graphic novel in the 1990s, attached to write and produce. The current plan is to turn “the cheapness of the low-budget effects will be a running joke in the movie, which will retain the campiness of the 1980s TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century starring Gil Gerard.” My hope is that this approach doesn’t result in a slapstick tone.
For those of you who were born post-Back to the Future (I find a lot of generational entertainment is lost in people born of the internet generation), Buck Rogers was created in 1928 by Philip Nowlan. The basic premise is as follows: Rogers, a pilot/astronaut who falls into a coma, only to awaken in the twenty-fifth century. Best known from the long-running syndicated newspaper comic strip, Rogers also appeared in a 12-part 1939 movie serial, a 1979 television series, and in many other incarnations. The development of space technology in the twentieth century launched Buck Rogers into American pop culture.