It’s Bruce Willis vs. Beau Knapp for the Death Wish remake

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Bruce Willis has long been attached to play vigilante Paul Kersey in a remake of the 1974 classic franchise-starter DEATH WISH. That remake is now in production, filming on the streets of Montreal and Chicago with Eli Roth at the helm. Nearly a month into filming, we now know will be playing the main villain Willis's Kersey will be facing off with: Beau Knapp as a character named Knox.

Knapp has been in SUPER 8, NO ONE LIVES, THE SIGNAL, RUN ALL NIGHT, SOUTHPAW, and THE GIFT, but his standout role in my mind came in Shane Black's THE NICE GUYS, where he played the troublesome Blueface.

Written by Roth and Dean Georgaris from an original draft by Joe Carnahan (ED WOOD scribes Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski also did a pass at one point), this remake centers on 

Paul Kersey, whose life is destroyed by a violent crime against his wife and daughter. Frustrated that the bad guys were not brought to justice for the nefarious act inflicted on his family, he starts hunting for the perpetrators himself.

The fact that Kersey will have a main villain to go after in this version of the story is a departure from the original film, where Kersey was striking out at criminals in general and never did cross paths with the guys who attacked his family.

Willis and Knapp's co-stars include Vincent D’Onofrio, Dean Norris, Mike Epps, Kimberly Elise, and Ronnie Gene Blevins, with Elisabeth Shue and Camila Morrone as Kersey's wife and daughter.

Morrone on set