AITH Hitcher scoops!

Two months ago
I visited THE HITCHER
REMAKE set (The one Arrow loathes so much…lol) in Austin, TX. There are all sorts of cool stuff I gathered from interviews with producer
Brad Fuller, director Dave Meyers, stars Sophia Bush, Zack Knighton and the great
Sean Bean.

So since scoops started to leak out from that said set visit
on other sites allow AITH to share with you some interesting tidbits from those
interviews. Here’s a list of things that I’ve learned as to what we can expect from THE HITCHER
remake. Here goes:

Star Zack Knighton was up for a role in TCM: THE BEGINNING but was turned down. They liked him so much, they had to cast him in THE HITCHER.

The new HITCHER will lean away from some of the supernatural elements that the original possessed, and takes place over a 40 hour period.

The ending here will be a lot different from the original.

Both Zack Knighton and Sophia Bush’s characters are being framed for the murders in this version.

The car used is a 1970 Oldsmobile 442.

The body count in the remake exceeds the original.

The film’s set in New Mexico.

There’s nothing really happening on THE BIRDS remake front, but they [Patinum Dunes] are hoping to start filming this February.

Platinum Dunes is trying to get the rights to an original script by DOOM scripter David Callahan called THE HORSEMAN, which is the story of a serial killer with a twist.

And finally, when I asked producer Brad Fuller if this movie will be rated R, he had some interesting things to say, especially about the upcoming TCM: THE BEGINNING:

We’ve never had a PG-13 movie, I’ve never had a movie that wasn’t NC-17. On TCM: THE BEGINNING , we just got it through this week. And that was the hardest one. That movie is so brutal and over-the-top, I mean that movie is really brutal. With the first TCM, we turned that into the MPAA and they said we had to cut some frames when the girl blows her head off. In this movie, they came back and said that there were 17 scenes that were NC-17. As a producer it’s hard, because obviously you want to be respectful to the process, but at the same time you don’t want to gut your scene.

People are going to see TCM: THE BEGINNING more than THE HITCHER, people are going to see the gore. Hopefully there’s a good story, but the gore is important, and it’s a very hard line to walk. In this movie, we only have one or two scenes that are really bloody. Somebody’s going to get torn between two cars, and at the end of the day, the question is, and we’re not going to answer it here tonight and we probably won’t answer it for months, how much of that are you gonna show. So, actually, we’re going to shoot it like it’s NC-17, and then cut it back. We don’t ever want to be accused of wimping out early, and having to add it in later, so we always try and go over the top and then we pull back.

And there you have it! Maybe this has changed your outlook on the whole idea of remaking THE HITCHER, as I know I was a little relieved after visiting the set. From what I could tell, it’s in good hands, and is looking to deliver us something special. Everyone involved is extremely excited about it, and are all going in with (what appears to be) good intentions: they all loved the original and want to do it justice!

Hopefully this has satisfied your thirst for THE HITCHER news for awhile or at least until my Set Visit’s up and running. No word on when that will be, but trust me- you’ll know as soon as it does! THE HITCHER hits theaters
Friday, April 13th, 2007