Joe Carnahan confirms 'Death Wish'; writing a role for Frank Grillo

I'm actually not all that upset over Joe Carnahan doing a remake of Death Wish. To me it sounds like the perfect film to match his sensibilities: remakes, high action, and as The Grey proved he should also have no problem walking some of the story's moral ambiguities. Carnahan will not only be directing, but writing the script as well, and he seems pretty excited about it. On his Twitter feed, Carnahan revealed some details on what his version of Death Wish will be like...

Carnahan: "Guys," I'm doing 'Death Wish.' But this version is a re-imagining of the book and set in present day Los Angeles. The L.A. of 'Collateral.' It's on buses, cabs, metro trains. I want to show an unseen version of L.A. L.A. on foot. Prowling. Hunting. The vast emptiness of downtown."

Brian Garfield's novel is vastly different from the Charles Bronson flicks, in that the book was reluctant to embrace the violence perpetrated by the lead character, whereas the film sorta reveled in it.  I have a feeling, even with Carnahan claiming to stick closer to the novel, it'll end up similar to the movies in tone.

Carnahan also revealed that he's writing a role specifically for Frank Grillo, who he last worked with on The Grey. He says it's not the lead "Paul Kersey" character, but then again the character is named "Paul Benjamin" in the book, so Carnahan could be playing word games with us. [Comingsoon]