Wolveriiiinnnneeessss!
Red Dawn, the 1984 Ruskies-invade-middle-America-only-to-be-defeated-by-the-local-high-school-football-team film that became a constantly-in-rotation staple of HBO for the rest of the decade, is being eyed for a makeover by its studio MGM.
The Hollywood Reporter brings word that the studio has hired both a screenwriter and director for the project. Carl Ellsworth, who co-wrote Disturbia and who has recently turned in a draft on the comic book adaptation Y: The Last Man, will be bringing the story of an invading Soviet army into the post-Cold War era. Dan Bradley, who has second unit director and/or stunt coordinator credits on The Bourne Ultimatum, Spider-Man 3 and the upcoming James Bond adventure Quantum Of Solace, has been tapped to direct. Harry Sloan and Mary Parent, who are also working on MGM’s proposed remake of Robocop, are producing.
As for updating the film’s dated concept, Ellsworth told the Reporter–
The tone is going to be very intense, very much keeping in mind the post-9/11 world that we’re in… As Red Dawn scared the heck out of people in 1984, we feel that the world is kind of already filled with a lot of paranoia and unease, so why not scare the hell out of people again?
While it is intriguing that an update would swap out Soviet invaders for some variation on the Taliban/Al-Queda/Radical Muslim terrorists, how do you keep that title with its distinct Cold War connotation? And if they change the title, why call it a remake in the first place? Isn’t the point of remaking films to capitalize on the pre-built in name recognition of the original? More to the point, why do I keep expecting these things to stand up to logical analysis?
