Scott Derrickson to Helm 'Day The Earth Stood Still' Remake

Last February we shared with you a few vague reports that seemed to indicate one thing: Fox had claimed a May 5 (2008) release date for a remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still, which is one of the first movies I remember watching with my dad and is therefore an unquestionably awesome film. (Lots of other people like it too, apparently.) In an effort to fill my previous report with text other than "Why the HELL would they remake this movie?" I threw out a few possible directors for the project ... but I never saw this one coming.

Scott Derrickson, the guy who directed Hellraiser: Inferno and The Exorcism of Emily Rose (as well as an adaptation of Milton's Paradise Lost, which is almost finished), has been tapped by Fox to remake Robert Wise's science-fiction classic. Now, I don't know the guy and I'm sure he's got more talent than his current filmography might indicate ... but did Fox really just hire a two-time low-budget horror helmer to oversee a remake to one of the most beloved sci-fi stories of all time? According to one reliable source, that's precisely what Fox did.

Early word indicates that the story will be "modernized" and that the production will be one of the largest (and longest) to hit Vancouver in quite some time. For those of you too young and/or disinterested to give the original Day a fair shake, I'll remind you that it's about a spaceman who arrives on Earth (with a giant robot) with a mission: Get humans to stop killing each other already. But when humanity responds the way it always does in sci-fi movies, the spaceman (and his giant robot) have to take more ... drastic measures. (It's all right there in the title!) Best of luck to Mr. Derrickson on this project; more information will be shared as soon as it becomes available.