Screen Junkies » highlander

7 Films That Cheat The Aging Process

Wookie Johnson — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 22:13:53 +0000

In Time features a future society where the aging gene is switched off at 25 years. Once you hit that age, you have one remaining year to live. Time has essentially become the currency and should you be able to afford it, you can purchase more time. But if time is the currency, how can you use time to buy time and why do I have a headache suddenly. Ouch.

I dunno. Sounds pretty weird. A similar concept was famously done with Logan’s Run, but aging and immortality have been popular themes in science-fiction and fantasy. These seven films all approach age and immortality in their own unique way.

Logan’s Run

In Logan’s Run, the future is devoid of sucky old people taking forever to climb the stairs. This is thanks to an advanced computer that controls the population by decreeing all humans be vaporized before they turn thirty. To ensure no oldsters crash the party, everyone is born with a Lifeclock crystal in the palm of their hand. When it changes color, it’s disintegration time.

Jack

Diagnosed with an extreme case of Werner’s syndrome, Jack Powell ages four times at faster than average children. Causing him to be born after a ten week pregnancy and having to shave by the time he enters 1st Grade. If that weren’t bad enough, he’s closed off to the outside world save for his parents and Bill Cosby. That would mess any kid up.

Official Bidness: Juan Carlos Fresnadillo Directing ‘Highlander’ Remake

Wookie Johnson — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 13:57:45 +0000

It seems that there can be more than one. The runaway success of Fast Five gave director Justin Lin‘s career a boost, giving him schedule conflicts out the wazoo which forced him to sever ties with Summit‘s reboot of Highlander. A successor has been chosen.

Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, director of Intruders and 28 Weeks Later and The Crow rebooter, will direct from a script by Twilight‘s Melissa Rosenberg. The official press release describes the plot as such, “In Highlander, after centuries of dueling to survive against others like him, Connor MacLeod, an immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his kind, a murderously brutal barbarian, who lusts for the Prize.”

Okay. That sounds like Highlander. But what are they going to change unnecessarily? It’s a reboot, right? It needs to include some plot change that will disappoint fans of the original. Given the Twilight connection, we’ll just have to assume mumbling. (Deadline)

Justin Lin No Longer Head Of ‘Highlander’ Reboot

Wookie Johnson — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 17:26:53 +0000

Justin Lin won’t be rocking out to Queen and chopping any heads off after all. Back in September of 2009, he was attached to Summit‘s reboot of Highlander, but Fast Five became a runaway success since then and Lin now finds his cup running over. Directing duties on the sixth Fast and the Furious and a Terminator sequel will keep him tied up and away from Highlander, though he will remain involved as an executive producer.

Summit is eager to get the reboot up and running as a potential replacement for the soon-to-end Twilight series. Does this mean will see a more romanticized Highlander? Perhaps instead of decapitation, perhaps an Immortal can only be killed by the severing of their ab muscles. I really hope I’m wrong. (THR)

‘Highlander’ Gets ‘Twilight’-ified, Because That’s Where The Money Is

Geoffrey Golden — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 01:51:57 +0000

Fact: the only movies making money right now are the Twilight movies. Don’t bother looking up whether that’s true on Box Office Mojo, you won’t find anything there but a bunch of gibberish actual box office numbers. Anyway, the kids love the Twilight, and its influence can be seen in a bunch of upcoming films. That might be why Summit hired Twilight Saga writer Melissa Rosenberg to pen their upcoming reboot/remake/refart of Highlander.

I expect Rosenberg will make an easy transition to this project, since there’s a lot of overlap between Highlander and Twilight:

The main characters ar immortals.
There’s romantic longing between mortals and immortals.
Tons of shirtless teenage boys.
Those teenage boys have glittery abs.
Tween girls love movies about sexy vampires and sword-wielding Scotsmen.

The movie will be produced by Peter Davis and directed by Justin Lin (Fast Five). Hopefully Lin won’t allow the complete tweenification of Connor MacLeod, and maybe he’ll wedge an awesome car chase / sword fight or two in there. (Hollywood Reporter)