After director Sam Raimi released the dark comedy deserted island survival thriller “Send Help” earlier this year, the genre filmmaker has decided one of his next projects is going to be a modern take on the 1978 horror flick “Magic,” which originally starred a young Anthony Hopkins as a ventriloquist being controlled by his dummy and was directed by the late Richard Attenborough (who notably played John Hammond in “Jurassic Park”).
The new iteration of “Magic” is going to be at Lionsgate and sees Raimi tackling another horror film, which tends to be where you’d expect him to be the most in his environment, with a script penned by Mark Swift and Damian Shannon (this version is going to be mainly based on the original novel by William Goldman rather than a remake of the Attenborough film), according to a report from Deadline.
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Raimi’s career kicked off with “The Evil Dead,” which spawned multiple sequels, remakes, and a TV series that brought Bruce Campbell‘s iconic Ash back to the fold. He would dabble back in the genre over the years with projects like “The Gift” and “Drag Me To Hell.”
The producing team consists of Raimi alongside Roy Lee (“IT,” “Weapons”), Chris Hammond, Tim Sullivan, and Raimi Productions‘ Zainab Azizi. Exec-producing will be Nathan Kahane, Paul Fishkin, and Andrew Childs for Vertigo.
“Sam is the dream director for this project; in fact, his coming aboard represents one of the truly great matches of director and material,” said Adam Fogelson, chair of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, in an official statement connected to the announcement. “The script is fantastic, and we could not be more excited to see Sam’s direction and creative vision take it to another level. We are absolutely thrilled he has chosen to direct the film.”
Funny enough, this was also the concept of a quirky Batman villain (along with a “Tales From The Crypt” episode directed by Richard Donner that starred stand-up comedians Don Rickles and Bobcat Goldthwait), Raimi being an avid fan of the Caped Crusader, and once trying to secure the rights for his own version of a feature film was thwarted, and ultimately got into the hands of Tim Burton instead. Hard to see if he isn’t aware of the connective tissue.
We’ll be curious to see how Raimi’s “modern” version of “Magic” comes together and who he’ll ultimately cast in the lead role, taking up for a part previously played by Hopkins. It would be quite amusing to see a veteran comedian take on the role, being able to mix dramatic skills with comedic timing.
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