I think there should be some sort of rule in Hollywood that a director who puts out an abysmal film should be forced to move back to production assistant for a few movies. That way, bad directors aren’t completely drummed out of the business, but they have to view things from a lower position and maybe pick up a few reminders of how good movies are made. Neil Marshall would be at the top of my list for production assistant duty. His Doomsday was a disaster. Even worse, it was a disaster with a lot of potential, but Marshall managed to leave that completely untapped.
Instead of serving as a production assistant, Marshall is somehow getting another picture to helm. Variety reports that the director has signed on with Universal to direct an adaptation of James Sallis’s novel Drive. Hell, he’s not only getting a big budget picture, but currently Hugh Jackman is attached to star, assuming scheduling will allow his involvement.
Sallis’s novel tells the story of a Hollywood stunt driver who doubles as a getaway man in robberies. Life is good until the driver discovers someone has put a contract out for his life.
Marshall seems excited about the project, telling the press ”Hoss[ein Amini] is a fantastic writer, and he's written three amazing car chases in the film. He's turned them into dramatic scenes as opposed to the usual crash, bang, wallop.” It’s a shame that, if Doomsday is any indication, we’ll never actually see those scenes well enough to figure out what’s going on in the movie.
Drive isn’t the only project on Marshall’s slate. He also has a western/horror film at Universal’s Rogue Pictures titled Sacrilege. Here’s hoping one of the two movies makes up for the offensive Doomsday. Marshall was considered to have a lot of potential after The Descent, but he needs to prove himself again before I’ll buy into the hype of his genius.
