These days, everything’s getting remade (am I right, other old people?!) and very few of them are we like “Yeah, you know what? Good idea!” Filmmakers can retell stories, but they have to have the right amount of difference to make it worthwhile. And then sometimes you hear about the new take planned for a particular remake and you go “Whoa!” To wit: Deadline has reported that Black Panther star and Oscar-winning actress Lupita Nyong’o is in talks to take the lead role in Universal’s remake of John Woo’s 1989 movie The Killer.
The original movie starred Chow Yun-Fat as the titular hitman with a heart of gold who takes it upon himself to help get treatment for a young singer he accidentally blinded during a job gone bad. He gets double-crossed and ends up teaming up with the wildcard police detective who doesn’t play by the rules. This was perhaps the best of Woo’s action movies produced in Hong Kong prior to coming to America to make movies like Hard Target and Face/Off.
Woo is teaming up with Universal for the project, which will see the action legend return to direct. Eran Creevy (Collide) wrote the script based on an original draft by 10 Cloverfield Lane‘s Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken. Brian Helgeland is apparently also taking a pass at the script. Deadline also says the film has been fast tracked.
Nyong’o’s casting is a cool decision, if it does indeed come to pass, not only because the project is being touted as a “star vehicle” for her, but because the story doesn’t seem to have been changed at all from the original basic premise despite changing the main character from a male assassin to a female assassin. It’s still about her having blinded a woman and trying to make amends, and there’s no indication any of the other characters are being gender-swapped, although that could still happen. With both Black Panther and her turn as Maz Kanata in the Star Wars movies, Nyong’o has proven to be a solid blockbuster performer, and I’m pretty damn stoked to see what she does with a starring action role.
Images: Film Workshop
More of the nerdy stuff you need!
- The classic Tom Baker Doctor Who story “Genesis of the Daleks” is coming to cinemas!
- The kickstarter for a Hellboy board game made over $1 million in its first 5 days!
- A look at the original John Woo’s The Killer!
