It’s a return to the novel… sort of

It’s just a couple of days since the announcement that, hot from The Grey‘s establishing itself as alpha at the box office, director Joe Carnahan was in the frame for a new version of Death Wish. There was no actual word from Carnahan at that point, but he’s now taken to his Twitter account to share some thoughts on his approach to the hoary Charles Bronson pseudo-classic.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the line taken is that Carnahan is returning to Brian Garfield’s original novel for inspiration. First published in 1972, the book actually revolves around an accountant named Paul Benjamin, rather than an architect called Paul Kersey, and is rather more ambivalent about its violent ‘hero’. Michael Winner’s film version – which had passed through the hands of Sidney Lumet and Jack Lemmon on its way to the screen – eventually took the path of scuzzy exploitation, and was much disliked by Garfield. While the films went their own way, Garfield wrote his own sequel in 1975; Death Sentence was loosely adapted by James Wan in 2007, with Kevin Bacon.

In talks for the Cormac McCarthy script

A mere two weeks ago, No Country For Old Men author Cormac McCarthy surprised the film world by delivering a script called The Counsellor instead of handing in his most recent book manuscript). We said at the time that we fully expected directors to come running to tackle the project and Ridley Scott was quicker than the rest, entering talks to make it his next film.

If he does direct the movie, it’ll be very different from Prometheus, which he’s busy finishing right now. The Counsellor focuses on a respected lawyer who foolishly thinks he can dabble in the drugs business without being sucked into the criminal vortex. Bad move! He’s soon in a desperate situation and relying on his wits and legal smarts to survive.

That sound you can hear is all the other options that Scott has been considering as his follow-up to the sci-fi epic crying out in frustration. Right now there are a few scripts competing for his attention, including a Gertrude Bell biopic and Child 44 over at Summit.

But McCarthy is a special case, and Sir Ridley apparently has been discussing the idea with him directly, so it’s not that surprising he’d get first dibs. There’s no studio attached just yet, but we’re betting executives are salivating at the thought of nabbing the package that contains both those big names.

Prometheus will attack our screens on June 1.

Sources:
Ridley Scott Wants The Counsellor