Paramount and MGM are finally getting their wish… their DEATH WISH, that is.
After being in development for the last few years, the new take on Brian Garfield’s vigilante novel that was already adapted for the big screen in the 70s as a Charlies Bronson franchise is going somewhere. BIG BAD WOLVES filmmakers Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado are being lined up to direct the movie, which would see Bruce Willis in the lead as Paul Kersey in a version that is believed to skew closer to the source material than the oiginal 1974 film did.
A new DEATH WISH was originally conceived by Joe Carnahan, with that script apparently still serving as the baseline now, with additiional work being done by Dan Gilroy and Graham Yost. (Who know what the project looks like at this point?) However, Carnahan wanted someone a bit more subtle in the Kersey role, an average guy in many ways who’d have to be broken by the vicious attack perpetrated upon his wife and daughter. When the studios pushed for someone more like Willis, turning the project into more of an action-type flick, Carnahan felt he had no choice but to walk and DEATH WISH has been lying around ever since.
It’s easy to look at the prospects of this, given Willis’ recent filmography, and say this all sounds like a bad idea. Trust me… I’m doing it right now. One would have to hope that Keshales and Papushado have it in them to really gab hold of the material and turn out that no-nonsense version of DEATH WISH that had people interested at one point in time for this to turn out okay, but it’s Willis who is really the sticking point as he’s shown time and time again that he won’t always allow himself to be directed and sometimes will just do whatever he wants to do. If that’s the case here, DEATH WISH will be D.O.A.