kurt sutter Tagged Articles at Cinematical
'Punisher: War Zone' Writer Despises New Film
Filed under: Action », RumorMonger », Celebrities and Controversy », Fandom », Scripts », Comic/Superhero/Geek », Remakes and Sequels »
It would seem that the biggest enemy The Punisher faces is not the criminals of New York and villains of the Marvel Universe, but ... Hollywood scriptwriters? Punisher: War Zone is due to hit theaters in September 2008, already bearing the scars of development hell. Thomas Jane dropped out of reprising the title role, reportedly because of script problems. Ray Stevenson of HBO's Rome stepped into the combat boots, much to the skepticism of fans. Paddy Considine was dismissive about the five minute offer he received for the part of Jigsaw. Early stills failed to inspire much excitement.Now, Kurt Sutter, one of War Zone's writers, has elected to take his name off the project. Over on his blog, Sutter claims that not only does he not deserve credit, as his original script has been rewritten out of existence, but he no longer wants credit or any association whatsoever with the project. In fact, he has few kind words for the film whatsoever. In his words, War Zone is a "simple story, very obvious dialogue and the inclusion of as many characters from the anthology that a movie will allow." It's a very tight script, he notes, but not very unique and not something that he could take any pride putting his name on. Sutter's dismissal of the current script earned him the ire of Punisher fans, though it is a bit perplexing as to why ducking out of WGA arbitration should earn you a death threat. Perhaps it was the seeming dismissal of comic book films and fans in general, or the implication that Jane left the project because of his draft.
Tarsem Singh to Direct 'The Unforgettable'
Filed under: Drama », Sci-Fi & Fantasy », Thrillers », Deals », Warner Brothers », Newsstand »
Unlike the title of his latest flick, Tarsem Singh's The Cell was pretty forgettable. I only saw it once (mayyybe twice), and all I remember is how unbelievably freaky Vincent D'Onofrio was. But the visual effects were pretty stunning, and Singh earned kudos from me in that respect. But then the guy disappeared for six years before returning with an indie flick, The Fall, back in 2006. Now, however, The Hollywood Reporter tells us Singh will once again step into studio world and direct a science fiction thriller for Warner Bros. called The Unforgettable. Based on the Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment video game The Condemned: Criminal Origins (which I haven't played), project will be produced by Basil Iwanyk, David Goyer and Jason Hall (who also helped create the game alongside Nathan Hendrickson).
At one point they were calling this Species X, but I imagine they didn't want people to associate it with the long-running (and now strictly DTV) franchise, Species. So now it's called The Unforgettable, and it centers on a cop who, during the course of a murder investigation, realizes he's not human. That kinda sucks. And from there, he becomes involved in a war between good and evil aliens. So much for throwing up some yellow tape, grabbing a box of donuts and calling it a night, huh? Kurt Sutter, who's currently doing some work on The Punisher re-do, and penned a bunch of Shield episodes, wrote the script.
Kurt Sutter to Remake Bruce Lee's 'Enter the Dragon'
Filed under: Action », Classics », Sports », Warner Independent Pictures », Remakes and Sequels »
This is how you remake a film: update it; change the name; make it just unrecognizable enough to not ruin the original while still retaining the basic storyline. The formula worked in the golden age of Hollywood -- yes there were plenty of remakes then, too -- and it could work for Warner Independent Pictures, the studio behind a planned redo of Enter the Dragon. The new version will be modernized, retitled Awaken the Dragon and it will barely appear to be connected with the Kung Fu classic starring Bruce Lee. Like Enter, Awaken will deal with underground fighting clubs, but other than featuring martial arts it seems totally different -- in an appreciably fresh way. Rather than focusing on an undercover fighter, Awake will follow an FBI agent on the trail of a rogue Shaolin monk. It's now basically a noir film set in the world of Kung Fu. Maybe they should extend the title to Awaken the Dragon from the Big Sleep.To write and direct the semi-remake, WIP has hired Kurt Sutter, who claims to be a huge film noir fan. So far we haven't seen any feature work from the guy, but fans of TV's The Shield may be fans of his work. He's a co-executive producer of the show and he's written plenty of episodes, directed one as well. He also has another TV project coming soon to the FX channel, a dramatic series about outlaw motorcycle clubs. As far as feature scripts, he's worked on The Punisher 2 (or whatever it's called, since it isn't a sequel), a thriller for Warner Bros. called The Unforgettable and Inland Saints, which is being directed by Joel Schumacher. Awaken the Dragon will be Sutter's feature directorial debut, and he says he's going to make it "more Raging Bull than Crouching Tiger [Hidden Dragon]" -- at least in terms of the "viciousness" of its fight sequences. Instead of casting a known martial arts star for the role of the rogue monk, Sutter will be looking to discover someone new. The FBI agent, however, will be played by an American star.
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