There Can Only Be...Another One - Highlander to be Remade

Yep, Hollywood the land of pillaging the past cinematic imagination is remaking the original 1986 Highlander movie. Here's the current details:

After taking on vampires in Summit’s Twilight Saga, writer Melissa Rosenberg is tackling a different kind of immortal being: Scottish highlanders.

The scribe is in negotiations to come on board to work on the studio's remake of Highlander. Neal Moritz is producing the project, which offers an update on the 1986 movie starring Christopher Lambert, Sean Connery and Clancy Brown. Justin Lin (Fast Five) is attached to direct. Peter Davis is also producing.

The original story centered on a Scottish swordsman, who discovers he is part of a secret race of near-immortal beings and faces off against an unstoppable barbarian who covets the power gained from there being only one of their kind left.

Summit acquired remake rights to Highlander from Panzer/Davis Productions, producer of the original film, in 2008. Art Marcum and Matt Holloway wrote the initial draft while Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Sellek Wibberley also worked on the script.

Wth her Twilight connection, Rosenberg may seem an odd choice for writing the action remake. But as the sole writer on Summit’s vampire pentalogy, she has proved adept at handling both character and action, as well as yearning, a key component of Highlander as protagonist Connor MacLeod watches his true love age while he does not. Before tackling Twilight, Rosenberg was a writer/co-executive producer on Dexter, the Showtime series that darkly balances family with bloody carnage.

Source The Hollywood Reporter

They're also doing The Black Hole, I bloody loved that film when I was younger and they're going to kill it. Creatively bankrupt bastards!

Johnstone McGuckian wrote:Creatively bankrupt bastards!

Quoted for truth. I give both remake ideas a big thumbs down.

Sid Seadevil wrote:Yep, Hollywood the land of pillaging the past cinematic imagination is remaking the original 1986 Highlander movie. Here's the current details:

Why do I think the Prize won't be obtained in the first movie this time 'round? Gotta save that for the third movie following the inevitable "studios like a trilogy" ideal.

Johnstone McGuckian wrote:They're also doing The Black Hole, I bloody loved that film when I was younger and they're going to kill it. Creatively bankrupt bastards!

Well, I look at it this way, maybe the original will get a nice remastered DVD or Blu-ray release thanks to the remake.

You've got to worry when the press release sells the film by pointing out the scriptwriter has considerable experience at wrtiting "yearning"...

Yep. Expect the news of Robert Pattinson's casting sooner rather than later.

stanmore wrote:You've got to worry when the press release sells the film by pointing out the scriptwriter has considerable experience at wrtiting "yearning"...

Indeed. Though, I worry a bit any time a new Highlander film is being made. They only got it right once.

Spoiler:

Zoltar wrote:

stanmore wrote:You've got to worry when the press release sells the film by pointing out the scriptwriter has considerable experience at wrtiting "yearning"...

Indeed. Though, I worry a bit any time a new Highlander film is being made. They only got it right once.

Spoiler:

Indeed. It's a sad state of affairs when the only half way legitimate spin-off, much less entertaining one) from the original film was the TV series.

Sid Seadevil wrote:Indeed. It's a sad state of affairs when the only half way legitimate spin-off, much less entertaining one) from the original film was the TV series.

I remember seeing the pilot for that and being unimpressed at the time, but there were indeed some good episodes of that series. Shame it's own ventures into film weren't any better.

Agreed. The show steadily improved and built upon the movie's premise quite nicely over its six seasons. But then, as you say, came its own movie's and the 'death touch effect' took over.

A pity. It was a good series and Adrian Paul was the perfect lead for it.

Sid Seadevil wrote:Agreed. The show steadily improved and built upon the movie's premise quite nicely over its six seasons. But then, as you say, came its own movie's and the 'death touch effect' took over.

Indeed, and managed to contribute more interesting new immortals than the films did: Darius, Amanda, Methos, Fitzcairn, etc. Plenty of mortals too, like Joe Dawson.

Sid Seadevil wrote:A pity. It was a good series and Adrian Paul was the perfect lead for it.

He was, his swordsmanship was very good as well.

Zoltar wrote:Indeed, and managed to contribute more interesting new immortals than the films did: Darius, Amanda, Methos, Fitzcairn, etc. Plenty of mortals too, like Joe Dawson.

Exactly, plus let's not overlook Amanda's own short-lived series The Raven. Actually, the series has a far more worthy legacy of its own than its parent movie series.

Zoltar wrote:He was, his swordsmanship was very good as well.

The fight choreography for the series as a whole was first class. And the fact that many episodes were both set and filmed in and around Paris itself certainly didn't hurt.

Sid Seadevil wrote:Exactly, plus let's not overlook Amanda's own short-lived series The Raven. Actually, the series has a far more worthy legacy of its own than its parent movie series.

That was a good series, though I've still not seen all of it.

Sid Seadevil wrote:The fight choreography for the series as a whole was first class. And the fact that many episodes were both set and filmed in and around Paris itself certainly didn't hurt.

Likewise hiring actors who could swordfight convincingly. Unlike, say, Richard Moll from the pilot. He looked the part of an evil immortal, but I seem to remember him doning a mask for the fights so a stuntman could take over.

Zoltar wrote:That was a good series, though I've still not seen all of it.

If you ever get the chance, you should. It actually deserved to survive more more than a single season.

Zoltar wrote:Likewise hiring actors who could swordfight convincingly. Unlike, say, Richard Moll from the pilot. He looked the part of an evil immortal, but I seem to remember him doning a mask for the fights so a stuntman could take over.

Lol...oh, I recall that Moll's fight scene well. The thing with actors like Peter Wingfield as Methos, is that as being Shakespearian trained, swordmanship is pretty much second nature.

Sid Seadevil wrote:If you ever get the chance, you should. It actually deserved to survive more more than a single season.

Will do. It might play on Syfy Sci-Fi, they're currently working through the Highlander series and I seem to recall them having the rerun rights to Raven as well.

Sid Seadevil wrote:Lol...oh, I recall that Moll's fight scene well. The thing with actors like Peter Wingfield as Methos, is that as being Shakespearian trained, swordmanship is pretty much second nature.

Indeed. I remember the episode where Nigel Terry guest-starred, my first thought was "Well, I think he'll be able to handle a sword".

Zoltar wrote:Will do. It might play on Syfy Sci-Fi, they're currently working through the Highlander series and I seem to recall them having the rerun rights to Raven as well.

Oh, well if they do you're laughing. Fingers crossed for you.

Zoltar wrote:Indeed. I remember the episode where Nigel Terry guest-starred, my first thought was "Well, I think he'll be able to handle a sword".

Lol...exactly. Plus if I recall correctly, Adrian Paul once stated in an interview that he had also received some fencing instruction from the chap who taught Errol Flynn!

Sid Seadevil wrote:Lol...exactly. Plus if I recall correctly, Adrian Paul once stated in an interview that he had also received some fencing instruction from the chap who taught Errol Flynn!

You could do worse. I seem to recall reading he studied martial arts and swordsmanship throughout his time on the series.

Zoltar wrote:You could do worse. I seem to recall reading he studied martial arts and swordsmanship throughout his time on the series.

And it paid off in spades. It's so much better when you don't need to intercut constantly between your star and his stand-in during fight scenes.

My initial reaction was:
NAY! NAY! And Thrice NAY!
And then I read that Panzer/Davies, who flogged the concept to death were not involved, that it is a new creative team. I still think its a terrible idea, but I am more willing to give the new Highlander a try. But only if the cast James Edward Olmos as Ramirez.

Eddy Olmos would be excellent. But I bet we get someone like Michael Sheen doing his best Connery impression instead.

Now, my favourite fanwank explanation for why the Egyptian with a Spanish name was speaking in a Scottish accent is because McLoed at this point was still a hairy highlander, who could only speak Gaelic. So Ramirez had taught himself that language, and the accent was to show that he was speaking it to McLoed in McLoed's mother tongue.

The accent thing never bothered me. But as fanwank goes that's a very acceptable explanation.