Reboots of SHAFT and THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN were announced earlier this year, and producer John Davis briefly touched on both projects while speaking with Collider at TCA. Although Black-ish creator Kenya Barris and The Goldbergs writer Alex Barnow are developing the script for the new SHAFT movie, Davis says the film won't have a comedic tone, but it will still have plenty of lighter moments.
It’s a reinvention of the story so that it’s both fresh and harkens back to what we love about that character. It’s drama, but it’s going to be drama with a lot of fun moments. A lot of lighter moments.
Davis also talked about how John Shaft is still an important and kickass character.
He’s just the greatest badass. You start with an amazing character – a great badass with charisma. He’s a lot like Phillip in [The Player], guys with a kind of violent past who are willing to stand up to stuff, who will go to unconventional means to do what’s right.
As for THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN, Davis is well aware of the negative reception the first film received, and doesn't want to make the same mistakes with the reboot.
Just by going back to the roots and making it authentic to what the fan base was really excited about. It’s female-centric, which I think is interesting. I love female characters, point-of-view characters in action movies. I thought Mad Max was great. I think you can always find a fresh way of doing something and going back to the basics. What is that people love? What is it that made them love the property in the first place?
I wouldn't really call the movie or the Alan Moore comics "female-centric," so I'm not sure where Davis is getting that from, however I am down for a film adaptation that isn't too removed from the source material. Which reboot do you think is more likely to begin production first: SHAFT or THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN?