The Crazies Director Updates Flash Gordon and The Brood
Posted 02.22.10 by Ryan
Breck Eisner's remake of the The Crazies opens later this week, but the director told FEARnet that he already has two more remakes in the works. The first is a reworking of the comic strip "sci-fi hero turned 1980 classic" Flash Gordon, and the second is a remake of David Cronenberg's The Brood. Esiner admitted that Flash Gordon is something he has been working on for "years."
It had been optioned multiple times, it had started and stopped. It's a very difficult project [to film], but I have been keeping my eye on it. Once the rights reverted back to the original owners, Hearst, I met with them and persuaded the guys to let me take the property out and pitch it.
In terms of working on it, I interviewed a lot of writers and found two writers I really liked [Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (the upcoming Dracula: Year Zero)]. They've been on for almost a year. We've done one draft and are on the second draft now. I was taken away from the development of Flash Gordon to focus on The Crazies. After post on The Crazies, I was able to spend two solid months with the guys, breaking story.
Eisner says that his Flash Gordon will have "nothing to do with the camp of the 1980s [film] or the serials."
We looked back to the Alex Raymond comic strips from the 1930s and imagined the film as if Raymond were still alive today, drawing those comics. The movie is intense, there is action and adventure, it is dynamic and it is off-world. It will definitely focus on the lead character, Flash Gordon. It's more of an origin story for Flash Gordon.
We intend to shoot it in 3-D if we get to that point. Making these movies are difficult, and getting them green-lit is difficult. We have a schedule going [to the studio] in a couple of months, and hopefully the studio will like the script and want to spend the giant bucks that this movie would need. It's a project I have been passionate about for years. I have been pursuing it for years. I'm hopeful I will get to make it one day.
Should Flash Gordon fall through, Eisner has been picked to direct The Brood, though he admits he's not sure the movie should be remade.
That's very, very early in the process. I was approached about it, and I really like Cory Goodman, the writer. I like the script, and I like the guys at Spyglass Entertainment who are doing the film. I am a big fan of the original, and that is one of the issues for me. I have to really think about it and do a gut-check and see if I feel that this is one that really should be remade. That's something I am trying to decide these days.