Following the exit of action auteur John Woo, Paul W.S. Anderson (AVP: Alien Vs. Predator) has stepped in to direct Universal Pictures’ filmed adaptation of the Midway Games video game franchise SpyHunter. Anderson first made a name for himself by adapting Konami’s Mortal Kombat for the screen. He has since tackled Capcom’s Resident Evil and is currently working on a movie based on Konami’s Castlevania and Infogrames’ Driver, both for Rogue Pictures.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Anderson will conceive a new direction for the SpyHunter script, which has been traveling a long and bumpy road to the screen. There’s no word on whether or not Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is still attached to star in the title role, though its likely that he has moved on along with Woo.
SpyHunter is being produced by Chuck Gordon and Adrian Askarieh, who are currently shooting 20th Century Fox’s big-screen take on Eidos Interactive’s Hitman game property with Deadwood‘s Timothy Olyphant starring. Also serving as producer is Jeremy Bolt, Anderson’s partner at Impact Pictures, with Dylan Clark overseeing for Universal.
Genre fans seem to have a strained relationship with Anderson, whose films tend to make money but don’t often live up to the lofty expectations of their bread-and-butter audience. He’s outright hated by a number of higher-profile fanboy bloggers but still manages to draw in the target demographic with his high-octane treatments of popular franchises. His latest project is a remake of Roger Corman’s 1975 cult classic Death Race 2000, which will reportedly begin principal photography in August with Transporter star Jason Statham in the starring role.
Leave a Reply