Warner Bros. grabbed the rights to Frederic Jardin’s Sleepless Night late last year, shortly after the high-octane thriller wowed midnight crowds at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival. An American remake was always part of the plan, and now the studio has revealed which screenwriters they’d like to tackle the assignment, if schedules can be sorted out.
Deadline says WB has met with Dante Harper (All You Need Is Kill) and Andrea Berloff (World Trade Center) about possibly teaming on the Sleepless Night translation, and while both are interested, they’re also extremely busy, and might not be able to make the schedules work. Berloff is cranking out the feature-film version of the red-hot documentary Cocaine Cowboys, while Kill -- which Doug Liman could direct with Tom Cruise – is occupying Harper’s time.
If they collaborate, they’ll have to figure out how to streamline a rocket of a thriller about a dirty cop who confiscates a bag filled with cocaine from a reputed drug dealer. In retaliation, the drug kingpin kidnaps the police officer’s child, forcing our “hero” to spend a wild night evading criminals and internal affairs agents in order to retrieve his son and escape with his life.
Night is the latest foreign thriller – and film-festival hit – to get a U.S. remake, after The Raid and District B13. The irony is that most American audiences haven’t even seen the original films yet, and we’d much rather see the international originals before taking in the U.S. adaptations, to compare and contrast. I can’t wait to see which director WB gets for Night. We’ll keep you posted as details emerge.
