Guy Richie Directing Sherlock Holmes for Warner Bros.
Well, it looks like Guy Ritchie (right) and Joel Silver’s Sgt. Rock will have to wait. Ritchie will direct Sherlock Holmes for Warner Bros., an adaptation of producer Lionel Wigram’s upcoming comic book. Neil Marshall was previously attached to helm, and WB has said that the film will have the same realism and seriousness as Batman Begins. Mirroring our modern man (yeah, right), this iteration of Holmes will focus more on the character’s formidable pugilism, swordsmanship (hello, ladies) and an appetite for, yep, adventure. Dan Lin (The Departed, 10,000 BC, Terminator 4) will co-produce.
Created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the 19th Century, some of the British detective’s “Victorian stuffiness” will be nixed for the 2010 film. Whether this means no appearance by Holmes’s silly hat, monocled fashion, or his signature pipe was not specified. Dr. John H. Watson will remain Holmes’s affable sidekick. Let’s hope Watson’s not reenvisioned as a bitchin’ kite-surfer with an addiction to narcotics Red Bull.
Ritchie is clearly untested when it comes to studio blockbusters, and I wonder how much of his frenetic style will transfer over. But it sounds like a cool project for him and I’m glad it’s a Brit in the director’s chair. And a cool movie for audiences too, as long as the dizzying sleuth-dom isn’t overshadowed by madcap stunts a la a Brosnan Bond or with rapper actors. I’ve always wanted to see DDL play Holmes (who wouldn’t), and I’m really curious to see who lands the two main roles here. Sounds like WB will be “casting up,” which always brightens the day at Slashfilm.
Neil Marshall to Direct Hugh Jackman in Drive
His recent, loud homage to Mad Max and killer viruses, Doomsday, was mostly ignored and deflated quickly at the box office, but genre director Neil Marshall is still going strong. He’s now attached to his second project of the month, an L.A.-set action mystery vehicle for Hugh Jackman at Universal entitled Drive that looks to be his next film. An adaptation of author James Sallis’s neo-noir of the same name, Jackman will star as a Hollywood stunt driver who enjoys a double-life as a getaway man for robberies. In the book, one of the heists backfires and Jackman’s character earns a bounty on his life.
“This is something I haven’t done before, and I’ve wanted to bring a British sensibility to an L.A. shoot and a scorched classic film noir concept,” Marshall told Variety. “Hoss is a fantastic writer, and he’s written three amazing car chases in the film. He’s turned them into dramatic scenes as opposed to the usual crash, bang, wallop. I would like to be shooting it this summer.”
Last week it was announced that Marshall will also direct Sacrilege, a Western horror flick that he ambitiously described as “Unforgiven by way of H.P. Lovecraft,” with a dash of The Thing. Drive was adapted by Hossein Amini, who wrote The Golden Compass sequel The Subtle Knife as well as the long-delayed Elmore Leonard crime adaptation Killshot (um, IMDB says it’s due April ‘08).
I’m curious what Marshall means by bringing a “British sensibility” to L.A. for Drive. His currently has one of the more active mid-level fanboy-centric careers in the industry right now, and it will be interesting to see if he continues to build on the promise seen with The Descent or if he goes the way of a Simon West.
Doomsday Street Marketing in Hollywood
Have any Slashfilm readers in Hollywood seen the following costumed street team promoting Neil Marshall’s Doomsday near Franklin and Highland? I’m not sure if this stunt would even grab my attention in L.A., because so many people in L.A. dress this ridiculously. In the book The Game such loud “fashion” is even referred to as “peacocking” I think. Either way, it’s worth a shot, as Marshall’s Mad Max-meets-proto-virus apocalypse flick is not tracking so great at the moment for its release next weekend. So, if you think Neil Marshall is the right guy to tackle a remake of Conan (I’m not so sure), go see it and/or honk, honk, honk.
Source Link: Flickr
Conan Director Rumors Continue, Doomsday’s Neil Marshall Now In Mix
A few days ago Rob Zombie was said to be up for the skull-and-horn adorned director’s chair on the 2009 Lionsgate tent-pole Conan. The plethora of dried blood and fur, swords, mating calls and battle cries that drenched my imagination when I heard this rumor was lovely. Zombie could do both the classic barbaric character and John Milius’s wild original film supreme justice. Of course, now we now know that Zombie’s next film will be Tyrannosaurus Rex, with word growing that it’s a hardcore flick about bikers, set for late summer 2009. No Conan for him.
Another name swirling in the rumor mill is Xavier Gens, who helmed the flashy video game flick Hitman. I do not want to see Gens’s $100 million Conan. He needs to sharpen his teeth hard on non-iconic material like Vanikoro first. The other name circulating right now is Neil Marshall, who batted a nice fanboy double with Dog Soldiers and the cave-horror crowd pleaser The Descent.
Marshall’s Mad Max-meets-cliche-apocalyptic-virus semi-epic Doomsday opens in March, and I’m sure its reception on the Net will play into his chances for the Conan gig. If the producers wish to wait that long. At 38 and with his career on the come up, we still haven’t seen Marshall’s biggest visions, but his work thus far has focused too much on the visceral and there’s a British B-movie filter at play that doesn’t work for me for this flick. What a Conan epic needs is a director who will not compromise at all, like Milius. You know that scene in Conan the Barbarian where Arnold is nailed to a cross, and suddenly his eyes explode and he rips into the neck of a lingering vulture with no-hands and keeps biting until it makes you shockingly hungry? I remember seeing that and going “Note to self, I have never and will never see that again in a movie.”
That’s what I feel Zombie would have brought (here come the “redneck profanity doesn’t belong in the Hyborian Age” quips.). To me this film is not about the action, it’s about the R-rating and the most gung-ho macho expression fathomable. If Marshall or Gens snags it, my attention automatically refocuses on Matthew Vaughn’s shoot-the-moon take on Thor.
Who do you want to bring Conan back?