development hell

Your monthly glimpse into Hollywood’s hoped- for future

Village life!

THE PRISONER

What do you want? Information? You’ll get it… Veteran helmer Ridley Scott is the latest name attached to the big- screen remake of cult series The Prisoner. First seen in 1967, the show was the infinitely perplexing, frequently surreal vision of star Patrick McGoohan, playing a secret agent who resigns from the service only to find himself exiled to a bizarre seaside village controlled by a sinister, omniscient force with a fetish for piped blazers and penny- farthings. Cue much fist- waving at the telly by the steam- eared general audience and an equal amount of chin- stroking theorising by committed aficionados. The most recent draft of the screenplay was penned by The Departed’s William Monahan. Christopher Nolan was planning his own take back in 2009 but to date refuses to talk about why he abandoned it, despite exhaustive interrogation and the application of giant white balloons.

Actors assemble!

AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR

We’re already trembling at the thought of the Lower Manhattan insurance premiums in the next Avengers film. “People will not be disappointed in the amount of characters in the movie,” co- director Joe Russo tells ComicBook. com. “The concept of Infinity War is that the Marvel universe unites to battle the greatest threat to the world and universe that you’ve ever seen, and we’re going to honour that concept… We have so many

characters we’re dealing with. We have a board with 67 characters on it.” Sixty- seven characters? That’s almost a collectable card set… Russo promises increased screentime for some of the superheroic subs bench. “I want to see some storytelling from some of the secondary characters. We’re focusing on that right now… which characters can we pull to the forefront who potentially haven’t had their own ‘ A’ story arc to this point.” Mr War Machine, we’re ready for your close- up…

Wakanda talkin’ about?

BLACK PANTHER

Hear it on the bush telegraph: Ryan Coogler is the man who will helm the first solo Marvel movie dedicated to T’Challa, prince of Wakanda, following the character’s debut in this year’s Captain America: Civil War. “I’m excited,” Coogler tells HeyUGuys, stressing his credentials as a longtime geek. “I grew very into pop culture, very into comic books, so it’s something that is just as personal to me as the last couple of films I was able to make. I feel really fortunate to be able to work on something I’m this passionate about again.” Coogler’s first film was 2013’ s award- winning indie true- life drama Fruitvale Station. He’s just brought us the equally acclaimed Creed ( and if the epic single- take boxing match in that film is anything to go by we’re in for some thrilling superheroic action with Black Panther). Chadwick Boseman is the man behind the mask when the movie opens on 16 February 2018.

To Elba and back!

THE DARK TOWER

This ambitious, film- and- TV take on Stephen King’s sprawling fantasy Western may have found its Gunslinger. Idris Elba is the frontrunner to pick up the guns of wasteland- wandering hombre Roland Deschain, a choice that’s backed to the hilt by the film’s writer and producer Akiva Goldsman. “I’m unbelievably proud of it as a collaborator on this enterprise and because I think that he’s a great actor,” he tells IGN. “I couldn’t be more thrilled that he is likely to play a part.” Predictably Elba’s casting has generated comment, given the character is caucasian in the books. “I understand that people who are thoughtful about the storytelling and the racial politics… might want to understand how that informs the storytelling,” says Goldsman. “I respect that and I hear that, and those things are not things we didn’t think about or don’t think about.” King himself puts it more simply: “To me, the colour of the gunslinger doesn’t matter. What I care about is how fast he can draw… and that he takes care of the ka- tet.”

Shrink to fit!

FANTASTIC VOYAGE

Guillermo del Toro is turning internal, not so much Pan’s Labyrinth as Pan’s Alimentary Canal. He’s the latest name attached to Twentieth Century Fox’s remake of Fantastic Voyage, the microcosmic caper that saw a crack- squad of wet- suited adventurers shrunk to atomic size and injected into the body of a dying Cold War scientist (“Take one Raquel Welch and call me in the morning…”). Previously attracting heat from helmers as diverse as Paul Greengrass, Roland Emmerich and Shawn Levy, this take now has a screenplay by David Goyer, who worked with del Toro on 2002’ s Blade 2. It’s a collaboration between Fox and James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment, so expect the FX to be suitably dazzling. And given del Toro’s fondness for cinematic monsters we’re already braced for some truly terrifying platelets and corpuscles…

Still Miller time!

MAD MAX 5

Relax, Thunderdomers. Despite a recent news story that claimed George Miller was finally done with the saga of Max Rockatansky, the director assures us there’s still a post- apocalyptic future in his future. “That was a completely garbled interview,” he tells The Wrap, blaming the noise of the red carpet for the misinformation. “I said no, [ another Mad Max movie] will not be next, and [ the journalist] took that to mean I never wanted to make another Mad Max. It won’t necessarily be next, but I have two more stories.” And Miller tells EW that there’s serious storytelling potential in Charlize Theron’s film- stealing Imperator Furiosa. “She’s a pretty compelling character… Her backstory is really interesting. We only allude to it in [ Mad Max: Fury Road] because this movie is on the run. People don’t have much time for recreational talk…”

The script’s great. Much darker, but we’re very excited…

Rey of light!

STAR WARS EPISODE VIII

Now that the Force has well and truly awakened and is stumbling around in its jim- jams, pouring out the Cinnamon Grahams, we’re hearing there’ll be more action for Finn next time around. “I’m back to keeping secrets again,” star John Boyega tells Vogue. “[ The script is] great. Much darker, but we’re very excited… My part in the next film will be much more physical so I might be in the gym a bit more.” Episode IX director Colin Trevorrow, meanwhile, promises that the pay- off to the dangling mystery of Rey’s parentage will be worth the wait. “We’re going to make sure that that answer is deeply and profoundly satisfying,” he tells Entertainment Tonight. “Rey is a character that is important in this universe, not just in the context of The Force Awakens, but in the entire galaxy. She deserves it. We’ll make sure that that answer is something that feels like it was something that happened a long time ago, far away, and we’re just telling you what happened.” We always suspected Lobot put it around a bit, the sly old goat.