JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray has made it clear that he’s a big fan of the 1994 sci-fi action film No Escape, so when he had the chance to speak with legendary producer Gale Anne Hurd recently, he couldn’t let the opportunity to talk to her about the movie go by – and as it turns out, by mentioning No Escape, he opened the door to also discussing how director Martin Campbell got the job to direct the James Bond film GoldenEye, the 1991 made-for-HBO horror noir Cast a Deadly Spell, and the possibility of a Cast a Deadly Spell TV series!
When Bumbray told Hurd that he’s a big fan of No Escape, she confirmed that she loves the movie as well and said, “It was actually my second collaboration with (director) Martin Campbell; the first one was an HBO movie called Cast a Deadly Spell. … I’ve just worked with some amazing people. But Martin is a brilliant, and anyway, (No Escape) was financed independently by a company called Savoy that promptly went out of business. And not only were they the financier, they were the distributor. So we didn’t get the theaters. We didn’t get the exposure. We had no marketing money. And I think when a film stumbles at the box office and rights were in tied up in litigation because of bankruptcy for a long time, it’s hard to gain traction because no one had an opportunity to see it. But it was an absolute blast to make that in Australia. And, you know, an interesting tidbit. One of the people who saw the film was John Calley, the amazing late John Calley. He called me up and he said, ‘We’re looking for a new director for the Bond series, for GoldenEye. What do you think of Martin Campbell? Because I saw your movie and I love it and how much did it cost?’ And I said, ‘Almost nothing.’ And that’s how he hired Martin Campbell.” Campbell went on to direct not only the first Pierce Brosnan Bond film, GoldenEye, but also the first Daniel Craig Bond film, Casino Royale.
Circling back to Cast a Deadly Spell, Bumbray mentioned that it’s a property that should be revived – and Hurd agreed. In fact, she said, “We’ve pitched. We’ve pitched a number of times, and now that HBO’s Max, who knows? It’s to the credit of Joseph Dougherty, who was the writer, who created the character. And given, you know, a sort of noir L.A. with mythical L.A. with all kinds of, vampires and werewolves and things like that. It’s just an incredibly fun premise that I think would actually make a great TV series.” Bumbray and Hurd also agreed that, if there were to be a new addition to the Cast a Deadly Spell franchise, Jeffrey Dean Morgan would be a great choice for the lead character, hard-boiled detective Harry Philip Lovecraft.
Directed by Campbell from a script by Dougherty, Cast a Deadly Spell starred Fred Ward as Lovecraft and had the following synopsis: In a 1940s Los Angeles from another dimension, the entire population has supernatural abilities, save for sleuth Harry Philip Lovecraft. The strange but affluent Amos Hacksaw trusts Lovecraft because of his distaste for magic, and he recruits the private eye to track down an ancient text. Harry’s seemingly straightforward task becomes complicated when he realizes that the object of his mission contains curses that Hacksaw hopes to use for world domination.
A sequel called Witch Hunt followed in 1994, with Dennis Hopper taking over the role of Lovecraft and Paul Schrader directing from a Dougherty script. That one had this synopsis: In 1950s, in a fictional universe where magic, witchcraft and monsters exist in the world, Private detective H. Phillip Lovecraft investigates a murder connecting an actress and a senator.
Would you like to see a Cast a Deadly Spell TV series continue the story of Detective Harry Philip Lovecraft? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below.