His recent, loud homage to Mad Max and killer viruses, Doomsday, was mostly ignored and deflated quickly at the box office, but genre director Neil Marshall is still going strong. He’s now attached to his second project of the month, an L.A.-set action mystery vehicle for Hugh Jackman at Universal entitled Drive that looks to be his next film. An adaptation of author James Sallis’s neo-noir of the same name, Jackman will star as a Hollywood stunt driver who enjoys a double-life as a getaway man for robberies. In the book, one of the heists backfires and Jackman’s character earns a bounty on his life.
“This is something I haven’t done before, and I’ve wanted to bring a British sensibility to an L.A. shoot and a scorched classic film noir concept,” Marshall told Variety. “Hoss is a fantastic writer, and he’s written three amazing car chases in the film. He’s turned them into dramatic scenes as opposed to the usual crash, bang, wallop. I would like to be shooting it this summer.”
Last week it was announced that Marshall will also direct Sacrilege, a Western horror flick that he ambitiously described as “Unforgiven by way of H.P. Lovecraft,” with a dash of The Thing. Drive was adapted by Hossein Amini, who wrote The Golden Compass sequel The Subtle Knife as well as the long-delayed Elmore Leonard crime adaptation Killshot (um, IMDB says it’s due April ‘08).
I’m curious what Marshall means by bringing a “British sensibility” to L.A. for Drive. His currently has one of the more active mid-level fanboy-centric careers in the industry right now, and it will be interesting to see if he continues to build on the promise seen with The Descent or if he goes the way of a Simon West.
Discuss: Drive or Sacrilege, which sounds cooler? If you skipped it, why did you miss Doomsday? What didn’t grab you about it? If you saw it, worth the ticket?
March 20th, 2008 at 11:18 am
I think Hugh Jackman is great, Swordfish is one of my favorite movies. However, a cross between The Unforgiven and The Thing sounds very interesting to me. As for Doomsday, I see most most movies when they’re released on DVD.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:24 am
I’m planning on seeing Doomsday. Rhona Mitra is smoking hot, and worth the ticket price.
March 20th, 2008 at 11:49 am
It was Horton or Doomsday. Horton won. But I still want to see it. And Unforgiven mixed with Lovecraft? That’s gotta sell! But I’m interested in both for sure. Hugh Jackman’s just a great all around actor.
March 21st, 2008 at 1:38 am
This sounds great. He’s made some good films but I like how he has a vision with the british sensibility and noir stuff. I have very little doubt that this will be bad.
March 21st, 2008 at 2:27 pm
Marshall is one busry guy.
his slate of would-be projects:
Quote:
The Eagle’s Nest
In June 2005, Neil Marshall announced after the completion of The Descent that he would be working on two projects: The Eagle’s Nest and Outpost. Marshall initially described The Eagle’s Nest as a World War II action-adventure that would be a hybrid of Die Hard (1988 ) and The Remains of the Day (1993 ).[1] The following July, Marshall described The Eagle’s Nest as an action adventure tribute to films like Where Eagles Dare (1968 ) and The Eagle Has Landed (1976). Marshall said The Eagle’s Nest would be about a rescue attempt for a parachutist, Rudolph Hess, who lands in Scotland during World War II. The rescue is botched, and Hess is taken by a German unit to a country castle.[2]
The Sword and the Fury
In July 2005, Marshall described a project called The Sword and the Fury, which would be a heist film that takes place in medieval times. According to the director, the story takes place 30 years after the death of King Arthur when his sword Excalibur is stolen. Arthur’s queen Guinevere hires a band of thieves to steal it back.[2]
The Ninth Legion
The Ninth Legion, announced in July 2006,[3] is a planned project by Neil Marshall based on the historical Ninth Legion.[4] Marshall plans to develop the film with the same crew that worked on The Descent, and he said in July 2006 that he would begin The Ninth Legion after completing Doomsday.[3]
Sherlock Holmes
In March 2007, Warner Bros. announced a film adaptation of the comic book Sherlock Holmes by Lionel Wigram. A script was written by Michael Johnson, and Neil Marshall was hired to direct the film. Sherlock Holmes is slated for production after Marshall completes Doomsday.[5]
Sacrilege
In March 2008, Neil Marshall announced his involvement to write and direct Sacrilege, a horror film that would take place in the Old West. Marshall described the film, “It is set during the Gold Rush, a time remembered for incidents like the Donner Party. It is meant to be a pitch-black, gritty, period horror movie.” The film will be themed on paranoia and isolation, and the director will draw inspiration from the 1982 film The Thing. “This is Unforgiven by way of H.P. Lovecraft, with that grim, gritty setting and a horror element nobody has seen before,” Marshall said.[6]
Drive
Also in March 2008, Universal signed Marshall to direct Drive, a film about a Hollywood stunt driver who is also happens to be a getaway driver in heists, starring Hugh Jackman. The movie is based on the novel by James Sallis. Marshall would like to start shooting in the summer of 2008.[7]
The De2cent
Due to the film being a commercial and critical success, it was decided that a sequel would be produced. Although Marshall has no plans to direct the film, he told Bloody-Disgusting.com, “A treatment is in the works, I’m not directing it, but I will oversee it and want to be a part of it.” According to Rotten Tomatoes, the sequel will be called De2cent.
Conan
First it was rumored to be Xavier Gens, then Rob Zombie, and now another name has been suggested as the director for Conan. IGN.com states that British filmmaker Neil Marshall has also been put into the running. The screenwriting team of Thomas Dean Donnelly and Joshua Oppenheimer have recently begun work on the script for film, which will bring the classic character from Robert E. Howard’s pulp novels back to the big screen.
i remember hearing about that sherlock project, which is okay with me as long as they don’t try to pass it off as a adaptation.
i like how marshall is like tarantino in how he pays homages to films he loves but he sems to have more fun in doing so.
March 21st, 2008 at 9:19 pm
Sacrilege, but that’s just because I love the unconvential westerns.
And Doomsday was, uh, okay. I liked it when they were in the city but when they got to the medieval castle with Malcolm McDowell it lost my attention, I felt like it went through a Southland Tales ‘Time Rift’ into a shitty excuse of LOTR visuals of people walking on hills.