I felt bad for The Illusionist when it came out. You can have two movies about the same subject come out at the same time, and usually, they both stand a decent chance to make some okay dough independently. Movies about marriage, movies with big explosions, movies about a sport. But when writer/director Neil Burger’s The Illusionist was released right around the same time as The Prestige, it was obvious that The Illusionist would forever live in The Prestige’s shadow. People can only handle so much magic.
Neil Burger has another chance to impress an audience though, as he is currently in talks to zap some life into the Bride of Frankenstein franchise. According to the Risky Business Blog, Burger is in talks to direct the reboot, as well as write with his writing partner Dirk Wittenborn. Ron Howard’s homeboys over at Imagine, Brian Grazer and Sean Daniel will produce the movie. Elsa Lanchester will be brought back to life to reprise her role (not really).
I’m sure there are plenty of directors who could bring a unique vision to this classic franchise (Guillermo, anyone?), but I think Burger is more than capable of handling it. He displayed a real flare for style in The Illusionist, a style that seems as though it would perfectly with a classic remake. It’s safe to say that his flick would not be the standard add-a-couple-twenty-somethings-and-reshoot-the-exact-movie remake that we’ve come to expect.
