Just last month, our man Jake to the D. brought along news of an exciting project from Christophe Gans (SILENT HILL) called FANTOMAS. The flick, which at the time was just in the development phase, had already attached actors Vincent Cassel and Jean Reno. A solid group for a film that promised to delve into a most interesting and sordid killer character. Unfortunately, it’s looking now like the project is on life support.
According to Ecran Large, which spoke to the actor himself, Vincent Cassel is no longer involved with FANTOMAS.
Soon after the story broke, Gans himself reached out to the site Filmsactu.com and confirmed the news. Here’s his statement (please excuse the rough translation): “The writing of the scenario that lasted a year and a half, which was not originally planned, we have indeed come to an incompatibility between employment time of Vincent Cassel and the shooting. We greatly regret that Vincent, attached to the project from the beginning, not longer part. But, in compensation, we are very proud of the script, written by David Martinez, myself , Boukhrief Nicolas and Karine Angeli. Thomas Langmann and I are already looking for a new player. As for Vincent and I, we will meet soon on our other project, adapting the novel The Swedish Cavalier.”
Hopefully Gans finds a suitable replacement for FANTOMAS, as it sounds like a really wild project. Here’s Wikipedia’s breakdown of the titular character, created by French writers Marcel Allain and Pierre Souvestre in 1911:
He is totally ruthless, gives no mercy, and is loyal to none, not even his own children. He is a master of disguise, always appearing under an assumed identity, often that of a person whom he has murdered. Fantômas makes use of bizarre and improbable techniques in his crimes, such as plague-infested rats, giant snakes, and rooms that fill with sand.
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