After a long period of silence, it appears things are beginning to move on the planned remake of Death Wish starring Bruce Willis. Now, we know the project is still alive, and might possibly begin to move forward again, as it has a new director. In an interesting move, horror director Eli Roth has been chosen to helm the film. While that might imply the film is looking to go in a particular direction, the rest of the details imply that _Death Wish _ is not looking to become a gore fest.
Following the confirmation a few months ago that Bruce Willis was on board to star in the remake of the Charles Bronson vigilante movie Death Wish comes news that the previously announced directors, Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado, have left the film, and have been replaced by Eli Roth. According to Deadline, the two wanted to make changes to the current version of the script. However, Bruce Willis had already signed off on the existing version, and whatever changes the directors wanted to make, the studio wasn't interested in. This led to the director's chair being left vacant, and Eli Roth just picked it up.
The word is that MGM & Paramount, the studios in charge, are looking at Death Wish as a potential new franchise, because of course they are. Eli Roth is best known for extreme horror titles, like the Hostel series. This would make Death Wish a huge opportunity for the director to break into more mainstream filmmaking. One assumes that he's happy with the script as is, since the studio won't want to go through the same thing over again.
Death Wish has been a project in development for quite some time, but "creative differences" have been an issue long before today. Joe Carnahan wrote the first version of the remake script, and was attached to direct the film as well, but he left following his own differences with the studio. Reportedly, those differences included the casting of Bruce Willis in the lead role. Apparently he was against it. Of course, since Willis was only officially attached three months ago, and Carnahan left three years ago, quite a lot has happened since then. The film saw at least one other director, and a few more drafts of the script in that time. Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski are responsible for the current version. What do you think? Is Eli Roth the right person to helm Death Wish?
