The Week In Geek: Dexter or Captain Kirk As Robocop? New Godzilla, Evil Dead Remake & More

Will Captain Kirk Or Dexter Morgan Be Our New Robocop?

As I mentioned in recent columns, MGM seems only interested in remaking theclassic movies they own as they slowly emerge from corporate re-structuring. Movies like Red Dawn, Carrie, Wargames, (and announced first almost two years ago) Robocop are all set to be redone. At first it was announced that Darren Aronofsky was going to helm the Robocop reboot, but he dropped out and so did most of everyone’s interest in this project. Still, MGM is pushing forward with this, and it looks like two of the names being considered for the title role are Chris Pine from Star Trek and Dexter’s Michael C. Hall. I could totally see Hall in this role WAY more than Pine. I can almost already hear his modulated voice saying “freeze, citizen!” and it sounds just right. If Hall was cast my interest would at least go up a smidge in this remake, especially if they manage to find an interesting director to go with this as well.

Johnny Depp Might Be Our New Night Stalker

It seems almost every other week I’m reporting that Johnny Depp has attached himself to some geek friendly project or another, but this time I’m happy to report it is not just another Disney/Pirates movie or another collaboration with Tim Burton. It appears that Johnny Depp is looking to play the title role in The Night Stalker in a big screen movie adaptation. And no, not Richard Ramirez the 80’s serial killer nick named the Night Stalker by the media (although I’d totally pay to watch that movie with Johnny in it) but The Night Stalker as in the 70’s television series.  The original was a very highly rated television movie in 1972, about a reporter named Carl Kolchak who investigated mysterious and supernatural cases, kind of a prototype version of The X-Files.  It spawned another movie and a short lived regular series that only ran for a season, but continues to be well regarded. This kind of character seems totally in Johnny Depp’s wheelhouse, so I could see this one coming to fruition sooner rather than later.

Interestingly, The Night Stalker was already remade in 2005 for the ABC network, with Stuart Townsend in the role of Carl Kolchak. It only lasted a few episodes, as everything Stuart Townsend touches seemingly turns to shit; he was the original Aragorn in Lord of the Rings till he got fired and replaced, then he got fired and replaced after he was initially cast as Fandral in Thor, and finally he was fired and replaced as Charlize Theron’s boyfriend in real life. Add to that, he played the worst possible version of the Vampire Lestat  in the hideous movie version of The Queen of the Damned, as well as adding to the overall suckiness of the movie version of League of Extraordinary Gentlemen as Dorian Gray. Townsend is geek property kryptonite; I’m sure no matter what, Depp’s version of Kolchak will fare better than Townsend’s did.

Evil Dead Remake Nabs Diablo Cody 

An Evil Dead 4 or Evil Dead remake has been talked about for nearly fifteen years at this point. For awhile there it seemed this was never going to happen, but it appears that it is finally coming together after all this time. Unlike most of the recent remakes of horror classics we have been inundated with over the past decade, original Evil Dead creator Sam Raimi remains an active producer on this revamp, and star Bruce Campbell is also a producer. The real out of left field announcement came when it was said that Juno screenwriter Diablo Cody would be writing the script, making fanboys everywhere scream a collective WTF. Cody’s last venture into horror territory was Jennifer’s Body, the Megan Fox comedy/horror vehicle which was hated by many (although I know of a vocal minority who love it) The real question mark regarding this whole thing for me isn’t Cody, it is who the Hell are you gonna get to replace Bruce Campbell? At least half the appeal of this franchise is Campbell’s performance, the other half being Raimi’s style. But I would argue that Bruce is the biggest draw here. It will be interesting to see how this plays out. Replacing horror icons doesn’t always work out for the best; ask Jackie Earle Haley how great it is being the Freddy Krueger that no one on Earth likes more. 

David Goyer Writing New Godzilla Screenplay For Legendary Pictures

There is yet another beloved geek property that will come to you with the involvement of David Goyer. It appears Legendary Pictures has signed Goyer for their remake of Godzilla as screenwriter. As I’ve stated in previous columns, Goyer does pretty well when adapting geek friendly properties like the Blade movie series (Trinity aside) and the Nolan Batman films as opposed to his own creations like The Invisible.  Hopefully he’ll give as all something akin to the original Japanese film, not the 1998 Roland Emmerich travesty where Godzilla was a giant fuckin’ iguana thing and he attacked New York instead of Tokyo and for some reason Matthew Broderick was there. I could see Goyer pulling stuff from the weirder later Godzilla films and maybe the Marvel Comics too. Although I doubt he’ll touch the Hanna-Barbera cartoon show for inspiration, but ya never know…..

Wonder Woman Costume Frenzy

Well, I suppose it has been awhile since I’ve mentioned my favorite hero Wonder Woman in any capacity in this column, so it is high time I rectify that situation. Sorry, but I just had to comment here…just what the Hell is DC doing with Wondy’s costume in their new rebooted DC Universe? In the first previews she was wearing something akin to the first costume she wore for her ill fated television show, with blue pants and blue boots, but this time with silver details instead of gold. But now in the redone version of the first issue cover, she is back to wearing star spangled hot pants. (She still has the stupid blue boots though.*ugh* DC, NO ONE likes that. Seriously.) Now the cover for issue #2 is out, and the pants are back, but the silver is out and replaced with gold (good) Maybe she alternates between pants and shorts? Ok…I can live with that, but it really seems DC is freakin’ schizo when it comes to just what the Hell they want Wonder Woman to look like lately. Honestly, her last look (below, right) is pretty cool, as long as they change the damn boots. I’m expecting a lot of bitchy fanboys and fanboys asking questions of DC editorial at Comic Con next week. And maybe I’ll be one of them….