Let’s face it, for anyone who isn’t a nostalgia-fuelled child of the VHS generation, the original “Highlander” only looks good in comparison to its string of extremely bad sequels and TV spin-offs. As such, it’s somewhere near the bottom of the long list of remakes we don’t give a shit about; neither a sullied classic threatening to be ruined, nor a property with enough potential to be reenvisioned by an interesting new talent.
Nevertheless, Summit have been pressing ahead with a new take on the series, hiring a string of top-flight writers to pen the script, from “Iron Man” team Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, to action veterans The Wibberleys, to, most recently, “Twilight” scribe Melissa Rosenberg. Justin Lin has long been attached to direct, but with “Fast Five” catapulting him onto the A-list, he bailed in favor of a new “Terminator” project and “Six Fast Six Sixerious.” But Summit aren’t hanging around too much, as it looks like they’re closing to landing a new director.
Deadline report that Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, the Spanish helmer best known for the zombie sequel “28 Weeks Later,” and whose latest film, the Clive Owen ghost picture “Intruders,” debuts in Toronto today, has been selected by the studio to replace Lin in the director’s chair, and negotiations are now underway. Fresnadillo was hired earlier in the year to direct the new version of “The Crow,” and it’s unclear what this news means for that: that looked close to getting made, but star Bradley Cooper dropped out, and while Mark Wahlberg and Channing Tatum were both linked with the title role, there’s been no further news. Could “Highlander” leap ahead of, or even replace that film?
Fresnadillo’s certainly talented, as anyone who saw his intriguing debut “Intacto” can attest, so we’re a little glum to see him brought into the Neal Moritz factory of terrible movies here, but maybe, maybe, he’ll be able to bring something interesting to the table here. There’s no exact word on when it’ll move forward, but Summit seem to be hot-and-heavy on the property, so we wouldn’t be surprised to see it move into casting now that it has a director.
