Six Films That DREDD Director Pete Travis Should Tackle Next
Dredd has to be one of the best R-rated action flicks I’ve seen in a long time. District 9 being the last film that was as entertaining as Dredd was. It wasn’t a paint-by-numbers action flick like Expendables 2 or even watered down like Taken 2. The film took cues from the original Robocop and Total Recall films, serious action in a surreal science fiction world. It’s been even longer since we’ve seen a solid/fun R-rated comic book film. I’ve come up a few other projects that director Pete Travis should be considered for. Keep Travis in mind Fox, Sony, Warner Bros. and Dreamworks because he’s the next Matthew Vaughn.
DEUS EX: CBS Films has optioned the rights to make a film based on the recent video game. Considering it would be a smaller production and would need a talent like Travis to beef up the film’s apperence without spending a boat-load of money he could manage it. As Dredd’s budget was in the range of $45 million which is slightly more than half of a terrible Adam Sandler comedy. Pete could build the world for Deus Ex from the ground up and make it his own.
METAL GEAR SOLID: Sony along with producer Avi Arad (Iron Man, X-Men 1-3, Spider-Man) recently announced that a Metal Gear Solid film is finally in the works. Christopher Nolan might be the creator Hideo Kojima’s choice but they’ll have to lower their standards considering it’s a video game franchise. If given a solid script I assume Pete could give us a decent take on Snake. However, it’s unknown if a script is in place but it would be nice to see Hideo involved. Not that the quality is there with Sony’s Resident Evil films but they are a successful R-rated video game film franchise. Which could help influence the rating come budget discussions.
GHOST IN THE SHELL: Dreamworks and Steven Spielberg have been trying to develop a Ghost In The Shell film for years now. They’ve had screenwriter Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island, Avatar) working on it for ages now. It had been confirmed by Laeta that the adaptation would be influenced by the original manga not the anime films. While Dreamworks mostly makes family friendly film it’s possible they could aim to please the fans by including it’s adult material. Pete proved he can handle developing an arc for a female character (Anderson) within an action setting, a rare task these days.
NINJA SCROLL: Appian Way, who also tried to develop an Akira film holds the film rights currently. They were a little more faithful with their adaptation announcement stating the production would be filmed in Japan with Japanese actors. A bold statement considering all the liberties they and Warner Bros. took with changing the entire identity of Akira (now in limbo). Warner Bros. hired Watchmen scribe Alex Tse to develop a script back in 2010 but since then no word on it’s development. While this is more of a fantasy film it has enough action that could be helped by Travis, plus it doesn’t hurt to switch up genres slightly.
HARD BOILED: The Dark Horse comic is ultra-violent an is about a troubled tax collector called Nixon who realizes that his life is nothing like what it seems and he is a man of metal, like some kind of robot doing the bidding of a dark organization. Frank Miller is currently developing the script for Warner Bros. there had been talk of him directing. However, after The Spirit those talks have likely ended. That said, his relationship with the studio is still solid with his comic Xerxes being the basis of the 300 sequel 300: Rise of An Empire. I think a Frank Miller/Pete Travis team up could be something special. The art from Hard Boiled reminded me of Robocop meets Judge Dredd, so it’s hard not to connect the two gentlemen.
PREDATORS 2: Like Dredd, Predators was a reboot of sorts. The only thing is that Judge Dredd was a flop while Predator and it’s reboot Predators (somewhat) were successful. It comes down to a personal interest to see what Pete Travis could do within the Predator universe. Ridley Scott is already planning his Prometheus sequel Paradise and Fox should take advantage of the rekindled interest in their R-rate science fiction. There had been word from producer/writer Robert Rodriguez the studio had interest in making a sequel to Predators but that was awhile back now. My main problem with the film is how they rushed things and hired Nimrod not Rodriguez. Instead of waiting for Robert to direct and Arnold Schwarzenegger to make his return as Dutch.
Arnold is back making films along with returning to the Terminator and Conan franchises. It’s only a matter of time before we start hearing rumblings he’s getting for another shot at Predator. Originally, Robert’s Predator sequel had Dutch on the Predator world which seems like a excellent way to move the series forward. It also included humans using Predator technology which could help even the playground a bit. What I’d like to see is Pete considered for the directing gig while Arnold returns as Dutch pushing more of a science fiction aspect of the franchise. There were some solid elements from the AVP comics that could inspire the next installment. Including a civil war among the predator clans not to mention what happens when a group of humans get their hands on predator-tech for their own use. Having “worthy” humans inducted into the clans by testing their wit/might against dangerous alien creatures.
John Woo To Direct ‘DAY OF THE BEAST’ A Remake Of ‘YOUTH OF THE BEAST’
Director John Woo made a name for himself with Hong Kong action epics like The Killer and Hard Boiled. The main theme of these films were the extensive brutal world of underground mobsters. His biggest successes in Hollywood was Face/Off and Mission: Impossible 2 while films like Windtalkers and Paycheck failed to find audiences. Woo had been focusing on another WWII film and released a two part Chinese epic titled Red Cliff. Deadline reports Woo is set to direct Day of The Beast which is a remake of the 1963 Japanese crime thriller Youth of The Beast from legendary director Seijun Suzuki. If successful, I wouldn’t be shocked to see this become a franchise as Suzuki had a rather large amount of films set in the Yakuza genre.
A western outsider with a grim past as he becomes embroiled in a global turf war between a vicious new breed of Yakuza and old school Cold War Russian mobsters. It’s an action-packed saga of loyalty, revenge and redemption which erupts in the heart of Tokyo.
Seemingly the Japanese hit Outrage has sparked this new interest in the Yakuza sub-genre. Fox’s comic book film The Wolverine is expected to explore samurai culture along with the underbelly of the criminal culture of the Yakuza. Universal Pictures has set Gavin O’Connor (Warrior) to write/direct a thriller Yakzua which will also explore this criminal world in Japan. Warner Bros. (distributed Outrage) has their own Yakuza film The Outsider with Swedish director Daniel Espinosa (Snabba Cash, Safe House) attached to direct with Michael Fassbender (Shame, The Counselor, Prometheus, X-Men First Class) wanted for the lead. The Outsider focuses on a WWII POW who is broken out by the Yakuza and is forced to work for them.
FILMS THAT SHOULD BE MADE: Frank Miller’s Hard Boiled
During the height of the successful releases of Sin City and 300 it was back in development. Frank Miller talking to MTV mentioned he was in talks to direct it. The project quickly went into limbo when Miller’s directing debut The Spirit tanked. If Warner Bros. is dying to make more comic book films Hard Boiled should be on the top of their list since the material if prime for an adaptation. The studio is currently beginning production on the sequel/prequel to Miller’s 300 in the next couple of months which is somewhat inspired by his new graphic novel Xerxes.
THOUGHTS ON A DIRECTOR:
My first thoughts went to Luc Besson mainly because of the design and scope of his film The Fifth Element. That film borrowed a lot of from the original Hard Boiled artwork by artist Geof Darrow. Yet it looks like he’s got enough projects in development along with another original science fiction blockbuster on the way.
Ultimately the best director for this would be Paul Verhoeven who has tackled this satirical science fiction material previously with Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers. Yet, the Dutch director has stated many times his distaste for sci-fi. It’s extremely assuming since he’s one of the best directors of the genre. Personally, I’d love to Verhoeven return for one more crazy genre outing like Hard Boiled.
I wouldn’t rule out a studio loyalist like Christopher Nolan tackling the material. Since someone like Fincher was originally interested I wouldn’t dismiss Nolan taking on the subject matter. He’s long stated that he’s a massive a fan of Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner and has dabbled with science fiction elements with both Prestige and Inception. This film explores similar elements used in Blade Runner and other films based on Philip K. Dick stories. Nolan is exiting the Batman franchise but hasn’t announced for sure what his next film will be. He’s notorious for not committing to another film until the one before it is released, focusing his entire attention to one film at a time. Given that fact we have no clue what he’ll do next.
Snyder has already proven he can handle large scoped projects and delivered somewhat successful comic book adaptations with 300 and Watchmen. The way Zack recreated a 1980’s Manhattan could work when a super stylized future L.A. is the setting. It helped earn him the coveted directing gig on Man of Steel. If the studio does end up for an R-rated rating Zack seems like one of the best directors to pull this off. The only problem here is that it’s expected if successful he’ll be asked to make the sequel to Man of Steel. If a sequel happens I assume a trilogy will be worked out during the development of Man of Steel 2.
Newcomer directors James Mather and Stephen St. Leger seem like they could do big things with a large budget film like Hard Boiled. The pair are about to release their smaller budgeted science fiction actioner Lockout in April which they both directed and wrote with producer Luc Besson. This Hollywood-like film was made on the cheap and has some impressive sets/effects all things considering. I feel if Lockout is successful big studios will be knocking down their door very quickly. I get the impression that they could make a plausable adaptation and without a massive bloated budget. Along with writing a tailor-make script to fit both a low budget and their visual style.
WHO SHOULD PLAY NIXON?:
When the news first surfaced I originally had Bruce Willis in mind but that doesn’t possible as the role seems more psychical than I believe he can handle stunt-wise at his age. This is something I picture a younger 90’s Willis being perfect for. With that in mind a few names come to mind. They include Russell Crowe (Gladiator, American Gangster), Michael Shannon (Man of Steel, Take Shelter, Boardwalk Empire) and Clive Owen (Sin City, Children of Men) who are able to play the everyman but can be highly action driven as well when needed.
Frank Miller’s Hard Boiled
Not to be confused with John Woo’s Hard Boiled, based on the ultra-violent comic book created by Miller and Geof Darrow. Unlike Sin City the artwork wasn’t done by Frank and it is brightly colourful. Darrow’s style has a very “Heavy Metal” feel to it with a bit of “Blade Runner”. Yet the film noir feel is still apparent in the story and dialog. It looks like Frank Miller is in talks to direct. Miller talked to MTV during the New York Comic Con about the project. At one time it was developed as a starring vehicle for Nicolas Cage with none other than David Fincher directing.
Originally published in 1990 by Dark Horse Comics and drawn by Geoff Darrow, “Hard Boiled”. Winner of the coveted Eisner Award! Carl Seltz is a suburban insurance investigator, a loving husband, and devoted father. Nixon is a berserk, homicidal tax collector racking up mind-boggling body counts in a diseased urban slaughterhouse. Unit Four is the ultimate robot killing machine — and the last hope of the future’s enslaved mechanical servants. And they’re all the same psychotic entity.
I could see Bruce Willis as Nixon.
Although Sam Worthington (Avatar, Terminator Salvation) and Clive Owen (Children of Men, Sin City) could easily fit into the role as well.
Frank Miller’s The Spirit success will be very important if he wants to be able to helm. If it doesn’t do well I could see a few directors that could do it justice. Luc Besson, Robert Rodriguez or Zack Snyder would be able to bring this futuristic vision of L.A. to life.
Here are a few more panels from the graphic novel. They are great examples of the scale that should be in mind.
CINEMA INVASION 