'The Grey' Director Joe Carnahan to Remake 'Death Wish'

Filmmaker Joe Carnahan is set to write and direct a remake of Death Wish, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Carnahan, director of this weekend’s box office champion, The Grey, has lined up the remake as his next project, pushing back a handful of pet projects the director has been working on.

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During recent interviews, Carnahan indicated that he wanted to make his long-gestating project Killing Pablo as a follow-up to The Grey, and revealed that he was working on a project for Fox entitled Continue, which he described as “Groundhog Day as an action movie.” About Killing Pablo, Carnahan said earlier today via Twitter, "Pablo is basically greenlit guys. That one isn't going anywhere. Promise." But given Carnahan’s proclivity for intense depictions of masculinity, as demonstrated in Narc, Smokin’ Aces, The A-Team, and now The Grey, Death Wish’s revenge story seems like a natural fit.

Based on Brian Garfield's novel of the same name, the original Death Wish was released in 1974, and was directed by Michael Winner. Although it was panned by critics for advocating vigilantism, the film went on to be a huge commercial success, spawning four sequels and making Charles Bronson a star. While in 2007 director James Wan mounted a loose adaptation of Death Sentence, Garfield’s follow-up to his original novel, other efforts to update the story were unsuccessful. Sylvester Stallone also attempted to launch a remake several years ago but the project stalled during development.

Based on the information in the LA Timeshttp://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/01/joe-carnahan-the-grey-death-wish.html story about Death Wish, there’s no word yet whether Carnahan might enlist A-Team and The Grey star Liam Neeson as his vengeance-seeking architect, Paul Kersey. But given Neeson’s recent success as an action star, the filmmaker could do worse than to reunite with the actor a third time.

Earlier today Carnahan offered additional details via his Twitter account about his planned remake of Death Wish. He said, "Guys. I'm doing Death Wish. But this version is a re-imagining of the book and set in present day Los Angeles. The L.A. of Collateral. It's on buses, cabs, metro trains. I want to show an unseen version of L.A. L.A. on foot. Prowling. Hunting. The vast emptiness of downtown."

Carnahan added, "Refn did a phenomenal job shooting L.A.," referring to Nicolas Winding Refn's 2011 film Drive. "It took on a different dimension. That's the key."