Tag: Dexter Fletcher

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‘The Saint’: Regé-Jean Page Replaces Chris Pine For Paramount’s Spy Reboot From Director Doug Liman

There has been a long-gestating remake of “The Saint” in the works at Paramount Pictures that previous had a popular TV series from the 1960s and a lesser-known feature film remake starring Val Kilmer (“Heat”) and helmed by Phillip Noyce (“Clear & Present Danger”) that released back in 1997. A new report from Deadline has revealed things are up and running again with Doug Liman (“Bourne Identity”) set to direct and actor Regé-Jean Page enlisted for the role of Simon Templar. A master of disguise, not that dissimilar to Ethan Hunt, who uses the names of Roman Catholic saints as his aliases while on various impossible missions.

The British actor will be replacing his “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” co-star Chris Pine (“Star Trek”), who had originally been attached to the remake back when Dexter Fletcher (“Eddie The Eagle”) was set to direct. Pine had previously attempted to restart the Jack Ryan film franchise for Paramount before his installment was unsuccessful and eventually the studio selected John Krasinski to lead the Amazon Prime series. So, Pine’s hiring was always a bit bizarre after their experience on “Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.”

Page has recently dabbled in the spy genre playing a heel in The Russo Brothers’ Netflix action pic “The Gray Man,” but didn’t really get a chance to do much action in that one in comparison to the other actors in it.

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It’s maybe worth mentioning that Roger Moore, the original actor from the ’60s TV series would eventually take over the James Bond role in the early 1970s after Richard Lazenby decided not to return for more installments. Page (35) has been long considered by UK tabloids as a strong contender to become the next 007, although, EON/MGM have yet to announce who they’ll actually cast other than a desire to hire an actor in their 30s.

Here is the official synopsis for the 1997 incarnation:

Based on the popular spy series, this film follows suave international thief Simon Templar (Val Kilmer), who is contracted by Russian oil magnate Ivan Tretiak (Rade Serbedzija) to steal a formula for cold fusion. So Templar, nicknamed “The Saint” because of his use of Roman Catholic saints as aliases, finds scientist Dr. Emma Russell (Elisabeth Shue), seduces her, and steals the information. However, because the formula was incomplete, Tretiak now wants to kill Templar and kidnap Russell.

Like “Mission: Impossible,” “The Saint” has an earworm of a theme song that got reworked by Orbital for the 1997 film.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Tomorrow War’ Director Chris McKay Tapped For Universal Monster Flick ‘Renfield’

A while back it was announced that Rocketman and Eddie The Eagle director Dexter Fletcher was circling a new Universal Monsters project focused on Count Dracula’s brainwashed lackey, Renfield. The script is penned by Rick & Morty’s Ryan Ridley based on an original outline from Robert Kirkman (Walking Dead, Invincible), Ridley’s involvement suggesting a comedic-bend to the horror movie.

Fletcher has exited the project to focus on Paramount’s The Saint reboot starring Chris Pine and Universal has hired Chris McKay (The Lego Batman Movie, The Tomorrow War) to replace him as director, according to Deadline.

Renfield believed if he was loyal enough, his master Dracula would give him immortality and is institutionalized. The incarnation of Renfield that standouts personally for me is Tom Waits’ take in Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula from 1992 that starred Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Anthony Hopkins, and Keanu Reeves.

The studio attempted to re-brand the Universal Monsters by launching their own modern cinematic universe, Dark Universe, starring with Tom Cruise’s The Mummy only for the film to flop. Leading the studio to kill the Dark Universe and retool their plans by getting Leigh Whannell to direct a new take on The Invisible Man with the help of Jason Blum’s Blumhouse. Renfield is part of a wave of new Universal Monsters projects, the next one is expected to be a Wolfman remake from Whannell and starring Ryan Gosling. Some of the other movies include a genre-hybrid Dracula remake from Chloe Zhao (Eternals, Nomadland), Van Helsing from director Julius Avery (Overlord), talk of the studio still trying to get a director attached for a Bridge of Frankenstein remake and other various films in development.

McKay’s sci-fi action flick The Tomorrow War starring Chris Pratt was recently sold by Paramount to Amazon for a hefty $200+ million and will be released on July 2, 2021.

SOURCE: DEADLINE