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How Marvel's Risks Paid Off

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Interviews

5 Directors Who Could Replace David Slade On The 'Daredevil' Reboot

By Oliver Lyttelton
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July 12, 2012 2:55 PM
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4 Comments

Features

There's a job vacancy going at 20th Century Fox. And one that needs to be filled pretty urgently. Late last night, it was announced that David Slade, director of "Hard Candy," "30 Days Of Night and "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse," who'd won the job of helming a reboot of Marvel superhero "Daredevil" for the studio, had left the project, citing a commitment to the pilot of NBC series "Hannibal." Directors leave projects all the time, but what makes this a bit of a problem for Fox is that the clock is ticking on their option on the character, and if a film isn't before cameras before the end of the year, the rights are likely to revert back to Marvel, cutting off a potential cash cow. And so a new director is needed, and needed fast.

By Drew Taylor
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April 27, 2012 2:24 PM
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6 Comments

News

Few directors have had careers as varied (and, quite frankly, bizarre) as Boaz Yakin's. He started out working on screenplays for big action movies like the Dolph Lundgren "Punisher" and Clint Eastwood's "The Rookie," before segueing into more personal material as a writer/director (1994's "Fresh," 1998's "A Price Above Rubies"). Yakin would have the biggest hit of his career with a script he didn't write, with the Jerry Bruckheimer-produced inspirational football movie "Remember the Titans." Since then he has bounced around between high profile screenwriting jobs ("Prince of Persia: Sands of Time," again for Bruckheimer), personal projects (2008's little-seen "Death and Love") and genuinely WTF-worthy choices (he directed the Britney Murphy romantic comedy "Uptown Girls"). This weekend, though, he's back and kicking ass with "Safe" – a sophisticated, New York-set action movie starring Jason Statham. We talked to Yakin about his weird career, what he wanted to accomplish with "Safe," and whatever happened to his "Batman Beyond" movie.

By Gabe Toro
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April 24, 2012 10:59 AM
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9 Comments

Reviews

The de-evolution of the modern b-action movie is disheartening. The genre has been bisected by traditionalists and new-school practitioners. The old-school, red meat types like Sylvester Stallone and their ilk believe that real men doing real stunts and delivering brutal blows is the way to go, big tough guys in big tough situations, without any youngbloods or fancy gizmos. The more contemporary action filmmaker, however, spikes the punch, utilizing heavy-duty CGI to turn Tobey Maguire into Dolph Lundgren, Cameron Diaz into Jackie Chan. Neither side seems to understand that you don't need to be Dostoyevsky to infuse the same old tropes with just a little respect for characters, stories, suspense, and high stakes. It's the story, stupid. Believe in it.