Rodriguez eyeing ‘Escape’ reboot
Gordon-Levitt in talks to direct musical comedy
LOS ANGELES, March 27, (RTRS): Robert Rodriguez is in negotiations to direct the remake of John Carpenter’s iconic “Escape From New York.”
Fox is targeting summer for the start of production, with Michael Ireland overseeing the film. The project has been in the works at the studio since 2015, when Fox obtained the remake rights to “Escape From New York,” starring Kurt Russell as “Snake” Plissken. StudioCanal sold the rights to Fox, which topped several bids.
Carpenter will exec produce the reboot. Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman’s The Picture Company is also producing. Neil Cross, creator of the BBC crime series “Luther,” wrote the script.
The original “Escape From New York,” released in 1981, took place in a dystopian 1997 Manhattan after it had been turned into a maximum security prison. The story centered on Plissken being recruited to rescue the US president (played by Donald Pleasence) after the hijacked Air Force One crashes.
Russell also starred as Plissken in Carpenter’s 1996 sequel “Escape From LA,” set in 2013.
Rodriguez is in post-production on Fox’s live-action movie version of “Alita: Battle Angel” with James Cameron and Jon Landau producing, and Rosa Salazar starring. Fox has set a July 20, 2018, release date.
Rodriguez’s directing credits include “El Mariachi,” “Desperado,” “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”, “From Dusk Till Dawn”, “Sin City,” and the “Spy Kids” films. The news about “Escape from New York” was first reported by The Tracking Board.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt is eyeing a return to the director’s chair, tackling a movie musical with Channing Tatum by his side.
Sources tell Variety that GordonLevitt is in early negotiations to direct Universal’s R-rated musical comedy with the running title “Wingmen.” He’s already attached to star in the movie alongside Tatum.
Universal landed the pitch that Gordon-Levitt and “21 Jump Street” scribe Michael Bacall hatched last year following a competitive bidding war that saw several studios chasing the project.
The story follows two pilots who crash-land in Las Vegas. According to sources, the film is in the vein of “Pitch Perfect” meets “Book of Mormon,” with the dup covering Top 100 hits with a touch of adult humor.
The studio courted filmmakers that included Seth Gordon, James Bobin, and “Book of Mormon” director Casey Nicholaw before Gordon-Levitt threw his hat in the ring.
Marc Platt (“Wicked”) and Adam Siegel will produce for Marc Platt Productions, along with Tatum and his partners Reid Carolin and Peter Kiernan for Free Association. GordonLevitt will also produce with his shingle HitRecord Films. Kristin Lowe, senior VP of production, will oversee the project for Universal.
Production isn’t expected to start anytime soon as Tatum is about to begin shooting the Paramount actionthriller “Triple Frontier” opposite Tom Hardy. The actor can be seen next in Steven Soderbergh’s “Logan Lucky.”
Gordon-Levitt made his directing debut on the romantic dramedy “Don Jon.” He recently earned rave reviews for his performance in Oliver Stone’s “Snowden” and is currently developing a handful of projects, including “Fraggle Rock,” “Sovereign,” “K Troop,” and “In Sight.”
Tatum and Gordon-Levitt are no strangers to the song-and-dance world and both have also shown range in comedic roles. Tatum broke out in the dance film “Step Up,” and has continued to showcase his musical skills in films such as “Hail, Caesar!” and “Magic Mike.” Gordon-Levitt has sung live on his Pivot show “HitRecord.” The duo last starred together in the 2008 war drama “Stop-Loss.”
Gordon-Levitt is repped by WME and attorney Karl Austen. Tatum is repped by UTA and Management 360.
K Period Media, the production company that financed “Manchester by the Sea,” is co-financing the upcoming remake of the horror thriller “Suspiria” with Amazon Studios, Variety has learned exclusively.
The remake of Dario Argento’s 1977 Italian cult classic stars Dakota Johnson as a young ballerina who travels to a prestigious dance academy in Europe, only to discover, following a series of increasingly grisly murders, that it’s a front for something far more sinister and supernatural. Jessica Harper toplined the original movie.
“Suspiria” is directed by Luca Guadagnino (“A Bigger Splash”) and also stars Tilda Swinton, Chloe Moretz, and Mia Goth.
Frenesy Film Company, Mythology Entertainment, First Sun Films, and Memo Films are producing. Amazon Studios has acquired the worldwide distribution rights.
K Period Media is headed by Kimberly Steward, who was one of the five producers nominated for a best picture Academy Award for “Manchester by the Sea,” along with Matt Damon, Chris Moore, Lauren Beck, and Kevin J. Walsh.
The film is a passion project for Guadagnino, who has been at the forefront of getting this remake off the ground. David Kajganich is writing the script from Argento and Daria Nicolodi’s original screenplay, which was based on Thomas De Quincey’s 1845 essay “Suspiria de Profundis” (“Sighs From the Depths”).
As Richard Curtis prepares to launch the upcoming quasi-sequel to his 2003 hit “Love Actually,” he took a moment to reflect on the triumphant careers of the film’s cast.
In an op-ed written for The Radio Times, the “Love Actually” writer-director said it has been a “particular delight” for him to see how “brilliantly” the cast has blossomed over the years. He went on to recall a, retrospectively, comical comment from star Keira Knightley: She said her next project was “some pirate thing — probably a disaster,” of course referring to the hugely successful “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise that eventually catapulted the actress’ career.
Curtis also commented on the success of the film’s other stars and their subsequent careers: “Andrew Lincoln had never come across, let alone killed, the Walking Dead. Chiwetel Ejiofor hadn’t been a slave for five minutes, let alone 12 years,” he said of the respective “Walking Dead” and “12 Years a Slave” stars.