Juan Carlos Fresnadillo Directing 'The Last Witness', John Moore Takes 'I.T.', and More

28 Weeks Later and Intruders director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo is in talks to develop and direct The Last Witness. The film is set up at 20th Century Fox and the script by Stefan Jaworski is described as "a ticking-clock thriller about the lone survivor of a bomb attack in Boston". [Variety]

Clint Eastwood's longtime producing buddy Robert Larenz made his directorial debut with the baseball drama Trouble with the Curve....which had plenty of troubles of its own. But now he's moving ahead on his next film, an action flick titled Past Due. Presumably this one won't star Eastwood as the story is said to be similar to David Cronenberg's A History of Violence, only led by a female. Okay.  Thompson Evans wrote the script and it also wound up on the Black List.

Horror film The Bringing once had Nicolas Winding Refn eying the director's chair, but he turned it down and producers have settled for some guy named Jeremy Lovering. The story is based on the widely circulated Youtube video of Elisa Lam, who was acting strangely in the Cecil Hotel elevator mere hours before she was found dead in the water tanks on the roof. The Cecil Hotel in Los Angeles is the place where serial killers such as Richard Ramirez and Jack Unterweger lived briefly, and is reportedly one of the final places The Black Dahlia was seen alive. A fictional tale will be crafted around these events, centering on "the man investigating her death, and the nightmare he stumbles into." Lovering last directed the psychological thriller, In Fear.  [Deadline]

And unfortunately for all of us, John Moore continues to get work despite hitting us over the head with A Good Day to Die Hard and Max Payne.  He'll direct another film that will probably be terrible, the Pierce Brosnan thriller with the awful title, I.T. >sigh<  Anyway, this one is written by Live Free or Die Hard's William Wisher Jr. (feeling confident yet??) and has Brosnan as "a successful publisher whose relationship with a young I.T. consultant sours. He soon finds the former friend is using technology to threaten his family, business, and life." Blergh. [Deadline]

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Juan Carlos Fresnadillo exits the 'Highlander' reboot

A remake of Highlander, the 1986 swords 'n immortals flick that starred Christopher Lambert and a slummin' Sean Connery, has been in the works for a few years now. At one point with Justin Lin(Fast Five) set to direct, he dropped out only to be replaced by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who left a remake of The Crow for the job. In the midst of all this has been Ryan Reynolds, who has quietly been attached to star since May with very little progress. But like Highlander taught us, "There can be only one", and as of now the only one left is Reynolds.

Deadline reports that Fresnadillo has now dropped out of the project, citing creative differences with Summit Entertainment. It appears to be an amicable departure, and the studio remains high on the project which has a latest script draft by Noah Oppenheim. The Iron Man duo of Art Marcum and Matt Holloway wrote the first draft, followed by Twilight's Melissa Rosenberg, so Summit is clearly willing to pay the big bucks for franchise scribes to kick this thing off.

So where does this leave Fresnadillo? There's still no director for The Crow, which was left in limbo after he left. Maybe he goes back to it?

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Ryan Reynolds in talks to lead the 'Highlander' remake

Just a couple of years ago, Ryan Reynolds looked like the fastest rising star in Hollywood. We even wrote a post about it, titled "Ryan Reynolds Controls the Universe"! He had a ton of projects on the way that would capitalize on his good lucks, physique, and natural comedic gifts. Some of those never came to pass, like his buddy comedy with Bradley Cooper, or the frequently delayed Deadpool franchise. Others, like Safe House, The Change-Up, and Green Lantern unfortunately did. He also had R.I.P.D. lined up at the time, which still has some serious potential. And now two years later Reynolds isn't such a hot commodity anymore. Sure, he was pretty good in Buried last year, but nobody saw it so who cares? It only goes to prove he's not much of a box office draw.


However, there's always another opportunity around the corner for a guy like him, and this one involves a potential franchise. Variety reports that Reynolds is in talks to star in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's Highlander remake, meaning Reynolds may get to shout "There can be only one!!!" while Queen blares in the background as he chops some dude's head off. The original 1986 Highlander has achieved some level of cult status, making Christopher Lambert a name many still remember even though he's done nothing worthwhile since.  It's popularity remains strong, though, leading to five feature films, a couple of decent TV series, some animated TV series, comic books, everything. So SOMEBODY out there still loves this stuff, which is why this whole thing is even happening.

Summit Entertainment are backing the project, and they must see big potential dollars, which is why Twilight scribe Melissa Rosenberg wrote the first draft, with Art Mancum and Matt Holloway(Iron Man) doing a touch up. Is this a good move for Reynolds, though? It's not fair to compare this Highlander to the dated dreck of the original, and Reynolds has miles more charisma than Lambert ever will. So Reynolds and Fresnadillo could be able to make this work.

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Concept art for The Crow shows how Bradley Cooper might've looked

Curious to know how Bradley Cooper might have appeared as the spirit of vengeance in Juan Carlos Fresnadillo's version of The Crow? Then look no further. Artist Diego Latorre has released a number of concept images from the planned reboot, which is now completely stalled for two very good reasons. 1. Bradley Cooper left the project so there's no star. And 2. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo left it as well in order to direct Highlander. I always thought the choice of Cooper to play the goth hero was a an odd but inspired move, and these images make me sorta sad at all the lost potential. Oh well. Check out the full batch of pics below, courtesy of our friends at Shocktilyoudrop....

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Juan Carlos Fresnadillo drops out of The Crow relaunch

What little excitement I might have drummed up for the reboot of The Crow has been flushed down the toilet. Juan Carlos Fresnadillo(28 Weeks Later), who had just signed on for the film back in April, has now dropped out. Why? Because the film doesn't seem to be going anywhere, I guess.

I joke about the disastrous time being had getting Pride and Prejudice and Zombies off the ground, but The Crow is faring much better. Initially to be directed by Stephen Norrington(The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), and based on a script by the awesome Nick Cave(The Proposition), the film seemed to have a fair amount of buzz behind it. And then it all hit the skids when an actor came aboard(rumored to be Mark Wahlberg) who didn't dig Cave's script, so Cave got bounced. Norrington left soon after, and basically everything started back at square one. Fresnadillo came aboard, with Alex Tse(Watchmen) drafting a new script. Bradley Cooper signed on to play the lead character, Eric Draven, until a slow moving production caused conflict with the shooting of Paradise Lost. So Cooper also left, with Channing Tatum and the aforementioned Wahlberg in the running to replace him. *deep breath*

So what now? Well, part of me hopes the whole thing just fades away. That's not likely to happen, though. Even through all the crappy sequels, The Crow remains a property with a loyal fanbase, and so there's moneymaking potential here. Fresnadillo certainly isn't hurting for work. He'll likely follow this up with the Highlander relaunch he signed on to last month. His latest film, the Clive Owen-starring Intruders, will likely hit some time next year. You can check out a trailer for that here. [Twitch]

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The Crow remake loses Bradley Cooper; seeks Mark Wahlberg and Channing Tatum

My interest in a remake of The Crow has been totally dependent on who would star. The production has had more than it's share of issues stretching back a couple of years, back when Stephen Norrington(Blade) was set to direct with a script by Nick Cave(The Proposition). Then there was this whole flap with a reported A-list star(rumored to be Mark Wahlberg) blowing the whole thing up with his demands, and derailing the whole thing. Ultimately Juan Carlos Fresnadillo(28 Weeks Later) was hooked up for the directing gig, and Bradley Cooper settled in nicely for the lead role.

But due to some legal tug of war with The Weinsteins over the rights, The Crow got set back a little bit. Bradley Cooper saw himself attached to a number of high profile gigs like Paradise Lost, The Place Beyond the Pines, and recently The Silver Linings Playbook. With a schedule like that, something had to give, and unfortunately that means dropping out of The Crow.

With Cooper gone, the studio has it's eye on two potential replacements. The first is the very guy who was a part of the film before: Mark Wahlberg. Ironically, Cooper just took over for Wahlberg as the lead in The Silver Linings Playbook, which will be directed by David O. Russell(The Fighter).

The other option is Channing Tatum, who frankly could use a franchise like this all to himself. He's an actor I personally think has a ton of potential, and we've seen it more often than not when a part of larger ensembles. I'd like to see what he can do with the focus squarely on him, such as in the film Fighting from a couple of years ago. Both actors are incredibly busy, however, so it's hard to say if it's even possible for this to fit in their schedule. Don't be surprised if other, lesser name stars get added to the list in the coming days. Currently the script is being rewritten by Alex Tse(Watchmen).

The many different versions of The Crow all follow the same basic idea. Based on the James O'Barr comic book, the films involve an unjustly murdered victim, resurrected by the Crow spirit to seek vengeance on the ones responsible for their death. [THR]

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Trailer Time: Intruders, starring Clive Owen

Spanish filmmaker Juan Carlos Fresnadillo made his big splash here in 2007 as director of 28 Weeks Later, but mostly since then his name has been mentioned in relation to big projects that went nowhere. Such as the big Bioshock film which will probably never get off the ground. Recently he's been named as the guy with the potentially challenging task of rebooting and reinvigorating The Crow franchise, which has also entered some recent legal set backs. But last summer before all this recent craziness he managed to shoot his latest film, Intruders.

Intruders stars Clive Owen as the father to an 11-year old girl(Ella Purnell) who is literally being haunted by her childhood demons. The new teaser trailer, while a bit on the slow side, has a vibe reminiscent of The Orphanage, or maybe even The Others. Could be good, but I hope there's a lot more to it than we're being shown here.  I'm going to assume there is. Intruders hits theaters on October 7th. Check it out below!

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