According to the Hollywood Reporter, Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood, Hitman) has been signed on for the lead role in the upcoming remake of George Romero’s The Crazies. He’ll be playing the sheriff of a town that’s infected with craziness after a biological weapon is accidentally dumped into their water supply.
The location’s been moved from Pennsylvania to Kansas, but otherwise the basic plot will remain the same. One can only hope that they keep the iconic biohazard suits in place, though.
The remake is one of Romero’s more underrated pieces, I think.
After the failure of Romero’s second flick (the little-seen There’s Always Vanilla) he returned to a story about small towns going insane, about government trying to burn away their mistakes while the people fought to survive.
It’s definitely a story that will resonate just as well today. But I don’t like the idea of the sheriff being the main character this time. Are we going to get a speech about how “These are my people you’re talking about!”? It was a better story when everyday people were fighting for themselves, not looking to another form of power for help from the bad guys in white jumpsuits. Also, I bet you won’t be seeing any incest as well. (What with this and Oldboy, incest fans sure are getting hit hard lately, huh?)
The remake is set to be directed by Breck Eisner, whose biggest feature film has been Sahara. This isn’t the only genre remake he’s got in the works, he is also attached to the Creature from the Black Lagoon remake that’s been endlessly delayed. It got bumped because of the writer’s strike and will most likely be his next project after The Crazies.
6 comments
Hey look! Another pointless remake!
You KNOW this is going to have an upbeat ending. Can't wait for 'The Crazies 2: Even CRAZIER!"
I've never even heard of this one… as a Romero fan from Pittsburgh, I should probably be ashamed of myself.
i actually like the idea of remaking this, its a good concept with a flawed execution. now is a good time for a film like this, it could really resonate if done well. the original had some obvious commentary on the hippy movement and stuff, i wonder if they will try and update that, or just kill it in favor of trying to make this a zombie movie. the crazies in the original weren't always violent, just nuts, which made the film pretty original
Romero's movie was already a remake..? I'm confused.
I didn't think the original had "flawed execution". I do think that with this, The Signal, Cell, 28 (x) Later, The Happening, etc. the "people go suddenly crazy" concept is in danger of wearing thin. Then again, it's really just an adjunct of the zombie movie, which never seems to die. So I will still see this I guess.
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