David Goyer‘s next project will be an adaptation he aims to make the “19th Century DARK KNIGHT”. That is an audacious claim for the man behind the Christopher Nolan trilogy, BLADE, and the upcoming MAN OF STEEL. But, this time he will be taking his love of comic books and applying it to the classic novel THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO by Alexandre Dumas.
The Hollywood Reporter says the latest version of the revenge tale will come courtesy of Constantin Films who also updated Dumas’ other seminal work, THE THREE MUSKETEERS, in a lackluster remake from director Paul W.S. Anderson. Goyer wants his take on THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO to follow more of the steampunk vision used by Guy Ritchie in his SHERLOCK HOLMES films.
“During my career I’ve enjoyed re-invigorating and contextualizing classic characters that are relatable to contemporary audiences. Michael has written an excellent script, and I’m going to enjoy bringing our take of the rich and textured world of Monte Cristo to the big screen.”
Michael refers to Michael Robert Johnson, who also wrote Constantin’s upcoming disaster epic POMPEII. The most recent take on THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO was the Kevin Reynolds version starring Guy Pearce and Jim Caveziel, which was pretty good in it’s own right. I find it hard to imagine how else Goyer can update the tale without deviating from the original novel, but I will be interested to find out. This will also mark Goyer’s first time directing someone else’s screenplay since THE INVISIBLE in 2007.
