Certain films should have deadlines attached to them, where the pre-production life can only last a certain amount of time before the project gets left alone. This is a naïve standpoint, I know. The example I use here is the upcoming American remake of Gareth Evans’ Indonesian action extravaganza The Raid: Redemption. Though it was announced almost two years ago, the film seems to have made little progress since then. This weekend, in fact, Evans revealed via Twitter that the film is being written by the currently bankable Brad Ingelsby. Read Evans’ entire message below.
Technically, Inglesby could be completely finished with the finalized draft of the script, but having not heard anything about his involvement before now, it would be surprising. So now they still have to land a director and a cast, and we probably won’t get our eyes on it for at least another year or two. Personally, I’d much rather all the anticipation and marketing efforts go towards the Evans-directed sequel that begins filming in January. But since my influence in this is completely nil, we might as well celebrate Inglesby’s potential, even if the bulk of his work hasn’t been released yet.
His only currently released work is the 2006 short The Honefields and the 2011 festival-friendly drama The Dynamiter, both of which were directed by Matthew Gordon, but he has three upcoming films that we’re pretty excited about. First up is December’s Out of the Furnace, the Christian Bale/Casey Affleck-led thriller that Inglesby co-scripted with director Scott Cooper. He also wrote Run All Night, which is attached to director Jaume Collett-Sera and would star Liam Neeson as a mob hitman who spends an entire night trying to protect his son from a former employee. Finally, his screenplay for the thriller Hold on to Me is to be directed by Man on Wire helmer James Marsh, and features Carey Mulligan getting Robert Pattinson in on a money-making scheme that goes wrong.
I have faith that Inglesby is quite the competent screenwriter, though a script for a Raid remake could be terrible and bland so long as it utilizes some amazing fight choreography. If there’s room to improve upon Evans’ original film, it would involve giving the major villain some depth beyond generic villainy. That film also had an all-around lack of shitty catchphrases and one-liners, but Inglesby is welcome to avoid those.
Relive part of the insanity with the original film’s trailer below.
