After pretty much destroying the box office this past weekend, and on track to take home a cool $1 billion dollars, “Iron Man 3” is a triumphant return for writer/director Shane Black. And the filmmaker at this point could likely get any meeting in town he wanted to, and will probably get scripts piled up at his door. But having been through the hype cycle once in Hollywood already (detailed in our feature 5 Scripts That Made Shane Black Hollywood’s Hottest Writer In The 1990s), he’s sticking to a project he’s been attached to forever.
First coming on to write it in 2009, and then inking a deal to direct in 2010, Sony has locked down Black (again) to co-write (with Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry) and direct “Doc Savage.” “As ‘Iron Man’ wound down I sort of reconnected with Sony who have been gracious to say, ‘We’ll wait a year and sit on these rights until you’re finished with this other picture that we don’t control.’ So they were really cool about it, they were really nice,” Black explained last month about the brewing movie. “So yeah I’m back on it.”
So who is this guy? Well the character is a classic pulp fiction hero of the 30s and 40s, appearing in books, comics, radio programs, magazines and movies. He was created by publisher Henry Ralson and editor John L. Nanovic, but is most famously known by the works brought to life by writer Lester Dent. Doc Savage is a nearly superman renaissance man (he’s a scientist, adventurer, etc.) who always finds himself in outlandish situations. So basically, Old Timey Tony Stark kinda.
Consider this more of a reminder than an update we suppose. Dude has bene linked to this project forever, with every trade site stressing it may be next. But considering Sony held onto it for him, it would be a pretty dick move to do something else instead, so consider it next, for all intents and purposes. [EW]
