It would seem that not even Orson Welles is safe from the dreaded hand of the remake. And while I continue to pray that Hollywood will never try to reboot Citizen Kane or Touch of Evil, it's now being reported that his 1946 film noir thriller The Stranger is getting the modern day redo. It's now being reported that Joseph Ruben, best known for helming Sleeping With The Enemy and The Good Son, has been named as the new director on the project.
THR says that the script was written by newcommer Alanna Belak and will follows a "reformed serial killer who has reinvented himself as a small-town professor, but is visited by his former partner, who wants them to start killing together again." The original, which starred Welles, Edward G. Robinson and Loretta Young, was couched the post-World War II atmosphere and featured a main character who was a mastermind of the Holocaust avoiding war crime charges. Jack and Joseph Nasser of NGN Releasing, who served as executive producers on the comedy For A Good Time, Call... that was released this summer, are backing the project.
While Ruben was a consistent producer during the 80s and 90s, also making movies like The Stepfather and Money Train, his production has slowed incredibly over the last decade. Following his 1998 film Return To Paradise the filmmaker didn't make a movie until 2004's The Forgotten. Following that, he only recently completed work on Penthouse North, which doesn't yet have a release date. The trade doesn't say when The Stranger is aiming to begin production.
