It seems suitably ironic that the reboot of the classic movie about a reanimated monster seems to have fresh life breathed into it with each new director and studio that takes it on. Fox’s version of Frankenstein’s monster originally had director Shawn Levy attached to it, who was adapting from the script of Max Landis, writer of the surprisingly cool Chronicle. Levy supposedly had something very big in mind, and was looking to make a big budget affair. That, of course, scared the executives at Fox and now Levy is working on his other film, The Internship, starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson.
So what is a studio to do about a movie that they don’t want to cost an arm and a leg? (Get it!? Because Frankensteins monster is cobbled together from the body parts of corpses? Yeah, I won’t forgive me either.) Why, hire a director that doesn’t want to spend as much, of course! So, in steps Paul McGuigan, director of the lovable but fault ridden Lucky Number Slevin to take the reigns and drive this monster movie home. McGuigan is supposedly willing to keep the film’s budget well within the constraints of Fox’s tightly drawn purse strings. No details have been given, but rumor has it that it will be a more futuristic, sci-fi inspired take on the original and it will revolve around the themes of “friendship and redemption”. Huh.
So, all this really makes me think of is how soon Guillermo Del Toro will get around to making his Frankenstein movie for Universal, the studio that produced the original classic. Let’s face it, no matter what happens there is no way Del Toro’s film will be topped, so these guys better hunker down and get their version released before he beats them to it.
By the way, it’s pronounced Fronkensteen.
[via Variety]