EXCL: Eisner on Creature from the Black Lagoon Remake!
Source:Ryan Rotten
May 2, 2008
Breck Eisner meets ShockTillYouDrop.com in Pasadena to talk NBC's
Fear Itself, and his episode
The Sacrifice (more on that later), and the only thing echoing through this writer's skull is:
Creature from the Black Lagoon,
Creature from the Black Lagoon... Yes, the long-mooted remake to Universal and Jack Arnold's 1954 film.
Myriad directors have dipped their toes into the property, but were not committed enough to dive right in. That is, until Eisner had his named attached to an update nearly three years ago, working from a script by Gary Ross. The waters have been seemingly calm on the
Creature front since then leading some to suspect Universal's attempts to float another Gill Man adventure were mere pipedreams. But the truth is, Eisner is reworking Gary Ross' screenplay right now. In fact, he took time off from that task just to meet us today.
"We scouted the movie last year but got shut down when the writers strike happened," Eisner explains to us.
"We had a crew in the Amazon where we're going to shoot all of the exteriors. We're shooting in Manaus, Brazil and on the Amazon in Peru. I want it to be authentic. I'm a big fan of Werner Herzog and Fitzcarraldo. Herzog got that authenticity. He shot in Manaus. So, we scouted for a month. There's this place called the Forest of Mirrors, because there are so many lagoons on a thousand mile green carpet river, and we found the lagoon we're going to shoot in."
Eisner is also currently prepping a remake of George Romero's
The Crazies which he'll shoot before
Creature.
"I want to get that film done, get it into post-production then head to the Amazon for 'Creature.' Oddly, I'm waiting on the height of the Amazon river before we start shooting - it drops 50-feet in October and November. But we've got the boat set and everything ready to go."
The new
Creature will take place in a contemporary setting, and, will feature a mixture of CG and practical FX.
"The Creature has been designed, we've spent six months designing him." Eisner says Spectral Motion has built a maquette based on an appearance created by Mark "Crash" McCreery (
Jurassic Park,
Pirates of the Caribbean).
"We went top shelf on it. It's very faithful to the original, but updated."
Asked if he was turning the
Creature into a huge action spectacle like Universal's
Mummy films, Eisner expresses a noted reverence for the studio's atmosphere-soaked originals like James Whale's
Frankenstein and George Waggner's
The Wolf Man.
"We debated tone a thousand times. For me tone is the most interesting thing a filmmaker has and so the Creature is a creature, it's not a monster. That's my number one thing about the movie. We're not going to turn him into a monster. He's still going to be empathetic, he's still going to be deadly, he's still going to have a misguided means of expressing his interests in a woman, but it's uniquely the Creature. It's empathy for a deadly creature and tone plays a big part of that." Still, Eisner knows full well Universal is aiming for summer movie fare so,
"it will deliver of action and excitement, but I want it to be scary. The Creature was scary when it first came out in '54 - it's not scary today - but that's what updating means to me, updating the tone of the original."
Comments
Posted by: Hey, yo, Nog dat Egg! on May 2, 2008 at 22:48:35
FIRST!-lulz who cares anyway?
Looks good, I can't believe it's taken this long to remake it.
Posted by: Super_Steve on May 2, 2008 at 23:28:26
This is the only remake I'm looking forward. It's taking this long to get it. Gillman will always be my favorite Universal monster from the 50's.
Posted by: jekglobal on May 3, 2008 at 00:02:32
Gillman and Wolfman have always been my favorites and I glad they are remaking both of them.Can't wait to check them both out.
Posted by: Andrew on May 3, 2008 at 00:23:57
Finally! As long as it's done similarly to the original, I'm there.
Posted by: Shannman on May 3, 2008 at 13:48:45
Oh god. This actually scares me more than the announced remake of Day the Earth stood still. This is one of my all time favourite movies, and it can turn sour so quickly. Fingers crossed and breath held.
Posted by: daniel clavette on May 3, 2008 at 14:26:18
The gillman and wolfman are truly classics monster movies of all time and the remaking of both them and their will great for 2009.
Posted by: steve on May 3, 2008 at 17:32:13
I think it depends alot on the Wolfman remake.
Posted by: BoggyCreekBeast on May 3, 2008 at 19:13:57
Could be okay, could be as bad as the Psycho remake. Time will tell. With all the remakes, I've taken the "I just don't CARE anymore" approach. Makes going online a wee bit easier.
Posted by: Ark-Angel on May 4, 2008 at 00:13:54
Wasn't the original 3D or something.? Seems like when I was younger I remember something big about it being redone in color and being 3d, you had to get the special glasses to watch it. It seems like it was big deal for it to be on TV or something. but I was liek 6 at the time so I'm not sure if I remember it right.
Posted by: FiBsTrOMKIII on May 4, 2008 at 09:02:34
As far as i'm concerned, this would be the remake of the century. I've been waiting to see a sequel or remake for as long as i can remember. I've been obsessed with the Gill-man for almost over 20 years!! Please DON'T SCREW IT UP! By the way, Breck says it's not scary today. I beg to differ. I think it's still friggin' TERRIFYING!!! Seriously!
Posted by: Anthony Tsosie on May 4, 2008 at 20:09:52
can't frekin wait!!!!
Posted by: Psychotronik on May 5, 2008 at 09:46:08
Sounds great and like the movie is in good hands. Can't wait to see the updated look!
Posted by: hippiesshoulddie on May 5, 2008 at 13:58:08
as long as its not gory 4 no reason true to the original and no lame acting types them fire away
Posted by: Romeo Garcia. on May 5, 2008 at 18:11:55
ANOTHER ONE???,,,ANOTHER REMAKE??...let me see halloween,texas massacre,the hills have eyes,the planet of the apes,i am legend...all failed and garbage remakes...why make another one?....this movies are classics,,,,why destroy it??????....no no no...make movies of original ideas like the others or sixth sense or the blair witch or lake placid or even cloverfield...good dammit!!...make a good movies....i just see the name "remake"and i know it's gonna be crap!
Posted by: Justin M. on May 6, 2008 at 13:10:05
To address Ark-Angel's question; yes the original Creature from the Black Lagoon was in 3D. In fact, it was the first horror film ever shot in 3D. Personally, I always found the Creature to be the blandest of the Universal Monsters. Zero personality. He’s just a fish-man who lives in a river and abducts women. No story there, so as far as I’m concerned Eisner only has room for improvement.
Posted by: MAC on May 12, 2008 at 00:35:15
Don't you think there might be some repercussions when today's kids grow up and find out all their favorite movies were remakes of stuff their parents saw when THEY were kids?
At least stuff like The Day the Earth Stood Still and Creature from the Black Lagoon were original when I first saw them. The recent trend in remakes just shows that Hollywood is afraid to take chances, and that leads directly to mediocrity.
If you read science fiction, you know that there are literally thousands of great stories and inventive ideas out there, but we'll never see them on the silver screen because the suits in La-La Land are all trying to protect their jobs.
Fortunately, cinema technology is now inexpensive enough that indie directors and producers can make the films we actually want to see - something not based on some moldy old idea - and make it look good.
Wherever the next generation of groundbreaking films comes from, it won't be from Old Hollywood.
Posted by: another daniel on August 1, 2008 at 17:32:56
i wonder why people today have this inexplicable urge to move classic stories ahead of their time period? i don't mind remakes and changes to the story within the original timeframe, but why this urge to think the audience so ignorant?
the del toro concept was supposed to take place in the 19th century in a style very similar to jules verne. this is a very respectable change in my opinion. so why are we again treated to the de laurentiis school of thought(king kong 1976) what a loss...
Posted by: Big Fan of the Creature on August 21, 2008 at 18:20:47
I LOVE The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and I beg to differ with someone saying that is isn't scary. My 5 year old grandson is scared to death of the creature. I have a picture of the creature in my bathroom over the toilet. Please dont' screw up the re-make. Try to stay as close as possible to the original...especially the music....that's what really scared us so much!!
So happy that there are others out there that love the creature as much as I do.
Posted by: chris on August 23, 2008 at 15:41:00
can't wait to see this movie,i also can't wait to see wolfman these two were my favorites as a kid im 27 and i just can't wait..
Posted by: chris on August 23, 2008 at 15:44:29
i also agree with another daniel why change the time period it just screws it up.
Posted by: Joe Jusko on August 26, 2008 at 12:25:07
I'm with Shannman on this. I'm getting hives thinking about this being screwed up. I still remember walking out of the Godzilla remake in a state of shock.
Posted by: chris on October 11, 2008 at 18:13:44
i cannot wait for the creature remake this will be really great if you go to you tube you can check out some new concept art for the remake. also can't wait for a final jurassic park 4 movie :extinction.and resident evil reboot like the first video game. anyways i cant wait.
Posted by: Creature lover on October 28, 2008 at 09:07:03
I love the original monster movies. Ever since i was a kid the Creature has been my favorite monster. I hope they do not screw this up like they did with Dracula and Frankenstein.
Posted by: Creature lover on October 30, 2008 at 09:04:18
Question for everyone.
Does anyone know what the creature will look like in the remake?
I hope they keep him exactly like he was in the old one.
Posted by: Racer_X on October 30, 2008 at 12:37:51
I've wanted to see a Creature from the Black Lagoon remake ever since they did Mary Shelley's Frankenstein & Bram Stoker's Dracula.
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