In 1990, Joel Schumacher assembled a great cast for his horror film FLATLINERS, getting Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, and Oliver Platt to sign on to play the five medical students at the center of screenwriter Peter Filardi's story:
At University Hospital School of Medicine, a group of ambitious medical students are about to die… and live to describe the experience.
Embarking on a daring and arrogant experiment, the five aim to push through the confines of life and touch the face of death.
In their search for knowledge, however, the five discover the chilling consequences of daring to tamper with immortality.
Director Niels Arden Oplev is now just days away from starting production on a remake of FLATLINERS, working from a screenplay by SOURCE CODE's Ben Ripley.
So far the cast of the remake includes Ellen Page, Diego Luna, Kiersey Clemons, Nina Dobrev, and James Norton… and a returning star of the original may soon be joining them.
Kiefer Sutherland is in talks to come on board the remake, and while his deal hasn't been closed yet, he is so committed to doing the project that the schedules have already been worked out so he will be able to work on both FLATLINERS and his new ABC series Designated Survivor without any troublesome overlap.
Sutherland will be playing "a seasoned doctor" in the remake, and if there's any reference to his name being Nelson Wright this remake could actually turn out to be something of a sequel.
The new FLATLINERS is being produced by Laurence Mark and Michael Douglas, who also produced the original FLATLINERS.