Caffeinated Clint
“Iron Man” writers board remake of 1986 classic
There can be Only One.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, “Iron Man” co-writers Art Marcum and Matt Holloway are on board to write a “Highlander” remake. Summit acquired the rights to remake the cult classic from Davis/Panzer Prods. Peter Davis, one of the original producers of the 1986 film, also will produce the new film.
And that expression of grief you hear is indeed coming from Christopher Lambert, no doubt dropping ducts into his pint of Guinness…
And you can’t blame the guy. Connor MacLeod is his, just as The Terminator is Arnie’s, Rocky is a Stallone creation, Freddy Krueger is Robert Englund, and, er, Stifler is Seann William Scott’s. For four films, Lambert fleshed, and fleshed out some more, the immortal Scottish Highlander who loved nothing but a, um, er, good head. His performance didn’t come close to anything the Academy might recognize, but we recognize Lambert as Connor – that should be enough. (I hate nothing more than seeing a different actor or actress play a character – and we’re not talking 007 or Batman here – another artist has established in a well-known flick or series – like, Julianne Moore as Clarice Starling in “Hannibal”, Stuart Townsend as Lestat in “Queen of the Damned”, and Christopher McDonald as Jack in those slipshod “Midnight Run” telemovies! Oh, the horror!)
I understand that after the dreadfully messy fuck-up that was “Highlander : The Source” – the fifth film in the series, starring Adrian Paul as Connor’s equally immortal cousin – that the series’ producers want to do something new.. something to keep the franchise alive… but I just don’t know that a straight-up remake is the way to go here. It seems, well, disrespectful – all those fans that have stuck by the series sequel-after-series, series-after-series, convention-after-convention, now you have to get used to an all-new Connor, an all-new Ramirez, an all-new Kurgan. (And can you imagine a “Highlander” remake without those legendary Queen songs? For me, the movie gets an extra shot of oomph purely because Mercury’s ‘Princes of the Universe’ opens it. It’s a wicked opening for a film.)
Davis, wouldn’t a better idea be to resurrect Chris Lambert’s Connor and have him train up some new young stud, a’la “Batman Beyond”? No?
In the past week, a “Robocop” redo has been announced, a “Red Dawn” reboot and now a “Highlander” remake. Does anyone else feel like someone’s fucking their childhood from behind… being sure to leave bruises?
