FRIDAY THE 13TH Remake Still On Track?
While New Line Cinema gets adopted by the Warners, one of its little projects continues with art designs and location planning. But will Michael Bay's new Friday The 13th make an April start date?
When Time Warner announced, on February 28, that New Line Cinema would be folded into Warner Bros., the futures of the little company's projects were thrown immediately into question. Among the films in pre-production was the Michael Bay-produced Friday The 13th remake, which, less than a month ago, was on track to begin shooting in Austin, Texas, on April 21. Whether or not that's still the case is anyone's guess.
Platinum Dunes's franchise "reboot," to be helmed by Marcus Nispel (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake), will mark the twelfth trip to the big screen for hockey-masked killer Jason Voorhees. (For you sticklers: Jason DID appear in a dream sequence at the close of Part 1.) At the end of February, MRDISGUSTING at Bloody-Disgusting visited the production offices of Platinum Dunes, where he got a look at some potential development art, including poster graphics and designs for the new Jason.
"What I saw was all temp, so the art design still needs to be approved, but what I was shown [was] pretty rad," said MrDisgusting. "There were three different pieces of art lined up across the wall, two being a close-up of Jason Voorhees' face, the other a full body shot. They all had a very harsh green tint to them, which gave all the images an unsettling (and watery grave) look."
That's as much as he could reveal. But, though "it's still insanely early to judge," Platinum's attitude toward the property has gotten him excited about the new film and about a potentially "more terrifying" Jason.
Though leaked materials suggest the types of actors being sought, no casting announcements had been released as of early March. But the fans have their own wishes, and some of them are quite simple.
"Please," posted MIKE at ShockTilYouDrop, "no WB stars please."
The new Friday The 13th is slated for release in February 2009. Friday the 13th, of course.
[Thanks to JAY A. FERNANDEZ at The L.A. Times.]