Eli Roth has a Death Wish.
The helmer behind Hostel and Green Inferno has closed a deal to direct MGM and Paramount’s long-in-the-works remake of the 1974 vigilante movie that starred Charles Bronson.
Bruce Willis is attached to star in the reboot, which is being produced by Roger Birnbaum.
Roth is coming on board after the position was vacated with the departure of Israeli filmmakers Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado. The project, in its modern incarnation, initially had Joe Carnahan as director, but he left in 2012. Scott Alexander and Larry Karazewski wrote the current script.
The original film was an adaptation of a 1972 novel by Brian Garfield and told of a man who goes on a revenge spree after his wife is killed and his daughter is sexually assaulted. The movie struck a nerve with audiences who were facing the decade’s high crime rate and reinvented the career of Bronson, then 53. It also set off a long list of sequels.
Roth has been slowly transitioning away from horror and into big-budgeted and elevated fare. He last directed Knock Knock, a sexual thriller that starred Keanu Reeves. He was attached to helm the monster movie Meg for Warner Bros. but creative differences and budgetary concerns got in the way. Roth also is returning to host Shark After Dark, Discovery’s Shark Week late-night talk show starting June 26.
He is repped by WME.
