len wiseman
BALLERINA: Len Wiseman To Direct Female-Fronted John Wick Spin-Off
Len Wiseman (Total Recall, Live Free Or Die Hard, Lucifer, Swamp Thing) will direct Ballerina for Lionsgate. Shay Hatten wrote the script for the female-fronted action thriller which will share space in the John Wick cinematic universe as announced back in 2017
Wiseman Set To Tackle DIE HARD: YEAR ONE; UNDERWORLD TV Reboot In The Works
Len Wiseman is the man being tapped to helm the forthcoming fifth installment of the Bruce Willis-led Die Hard franchise. Plans for a sixth film have been developing since 2013 upon the release of John Moore’s A Good Day To Die Hard.
The film was tentatively titled Die Hard: Year One a few years later by Wiseman on Twitter upon news of the director’s deal with Twentieth Century Fox and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura for the film as a prequel set in 1979 focusing on a young iteration of New York City police officer Jon McClane. The Die Hard franchise launched in 1988 with each film adapted from respective novels, articles and screenplays, with the additional involvement of helmers such as John McTiernan and Renny Harlin. Wiseman would helm the 2007 installment that would also re-introduce McClaine’s all grown-up daughter, Lucy, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
The most known draft for a sixth installment was a speculative script from screenwriter Ben Trebilcook whose story partly sees Willis once again caught in the wrong place at the wrong time – this time in Japan on the 30th anniversary of the siege of L.A.’s Nakatomi Plaza. “I can say that it actually feels like a Die Hard film;”, says The Action Elite‘s Eoin Friel who reviewed Trebilcook’s spec in 2014. “McClane doesn’t seem bored and finally has his personality back. Zeus Carver (Samuel L. Jackson) returns and so do several other familiar faces. It’s rated Hard R with McClane and Zeus firing expletives and abuse back at each other in classic Die Hard form. Yes, it is a sequel and acknowledges parts 4 and 5 exist, it is, however, like a continuation of ‘With a Vengeance’.”
Willis is currently the only actor reportedly set to return to the new film while further details remain pending on cast and other matters of studio level progress before more official trade news circulates.
The news also comes packaged with reports that Wiseman is shepherding a reboot of the popular action horror film franchise, Underworld onto television. The five-film saga led by actresses Kate Beckinsale and Rhona Mitra in their respective narrative stories began in 2003 m with Wiseman involved in some capacity (be it director or producer), telling of one woman’s integral means to advancing the end of a longstanding political and often bloody war between vampires and lycans.
Wiseman will executive produce the new TV reboot series via his banner at Sketch Films with Lakeshore Entertainment’s Tom Rosenberg, Gary Lucchesi and Eric Reid, and Sony Television. (Deadline)
SIN CITY Is Heading To The Small Screen
Taking their cues from Frank Miller’s 1991 neo-noir graphic novels, at least two live action adaptations of Sin City arose and while the first was a hit in 2005, its 2014 sequel, Sin City: A Dame To Kill For, fared way, way less.
Fast forward three years later and now it appears there’s something to salvage in a serial reboot from TWC/Dimension now in development according to Deadline. Len Wiseman, know prolifically for either directing, writing and/or producing the Underworld film saga, will helm the series with new writing by Glen Mazzara (The Shield, The Walking Dead, Damien) that will focus more on the source material with original characters and timelines.
Stephen L’Heureux who produced Sin City: A Dame To Kill For will oversee the series as well as produce with Miller, Mazzara and Wiseman and TWC/Dimension’s own Bob and Harvey Weinstein.
To be frank, really, I’ve only ever seen the sequel – I never got around to the first film but there’s no need to remind me to see it since the buzz is obviously good. I suppose the real question is if whether or not the show has the potential now being hyped about this week.
Feel free to comment further below on the matter in case you’ve read the novels or otherwise feel either way on the matter about the series.
Beckinsale And James Set To Return For 'Underworld 5'
The action horror genre remains ever more ripe with lycan and vampire fandom for the current four-movie installment of the Underworld franchise which began in 2003, and it was just last August that Lakeshore Entertainment stated they were rebooting the franchise with a fifth film tentatively titled Underworld: Next Generation. At the time, a cast wasn’t in place, but updates have arrived on this end and the franchise is officially going forward with two of its principal cast members.
THR writes that actress Kate Beckinsale is set to reprise her role as vampire warrior ‘Selene’ with the Divergent Series co-star, actor Theo James returning as her ally, David. Cory Goodman wrote the script for Anna Foerster, who directed episodes for Starz series, Outlander, and served as director of photography for the 2004 disaster flick, The Day After Tomorrow and 2013 hostage flick, White House Down, to helm with a story that will focus on a younger generation of werewolves and vampires.
The previous four films began as the brainchild of author and creator, franchise co-star and actor Kevin Grevioux, with Beckinsale leading the franchise along with actress Rhona Mitra in the epic story of forbidden love amidst a long and enduring war between royal vampire families and werewolf clans. Actors Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, and Scott Speedman also played key roles.
The sequel, Underworld: Evolution (2006), the prequelized third, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) and Evolution’s follow-up, Underworld: Awakening (2012), were modest hits worldwide after the success of the first film, ultimately banking on its worldwide gross of well-over $450 million. Len Wiseman directed the first two films as well as produced all three follow-ups with Gary Lucchesi and Tom Rosenberg, who are also returning to produce the new film with Foerster, while details regarding previously stated plans for a TV series are still pending.
Underworld 5 awaits an official title to confirm while cameras are set to roll in Prague this October.
Stay tuned for more info!
Lakeshore Entertainment Will Reboot UNDERWORLD
Eleven years doesn’t really seem too far off when recalling actress Kate Beckinsale’s portrayal of a vampire warrioress in director Len Wiseman’s 2003 hit, Underworld, on top of its fourth installment, Underworld: Awakening, just two years ago. However, the franchise has had some success over the years, and there was once a time when a then-skeptic Beckinsale may have wanted to a return for a possible fifth addition to the Vampire V. Lycan war/romance saga.
Nevertheless, Lakeshore Entertainment is ordering a complete revival of the franchise once again, with Priest scribe Cory Goodman providing the screenplay for the new reinterpretation of the sci-fi horror saga, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The previous four films began as the brainchild of author and creator, franchise co-star and actor Kevin Grevioux, with Beckinsale principally starring in the franchise along with actress Rhona Mitra in the epic story of forbidden love amidst a long and enduring war between royal vampire families and werewolf clans. Actors Michael Sheen, Bill Nighy, and Scott Speedman also played key roles.
The sequel, Underworld: Evolution (2006), the prequelized third, Underworld: Rise of the Lycans (2009) and Evolution‘s follow-up, Underworld: Awakening (2012), were modest hits worldwide after the success of the first film, ultimately banking on its worldwide gross of well-over $450 million. Wiseman also directed the second film, as well as produced all three follow-ups with Gary Lucchesi and Tom Rosenberg, who are also returning to produce the new movie.
Stay tuned for more info!
H/T: ComingSoon.net