Although I grew up watching and enjoying Bruce Willis movies, his lack of enthusiasm in most of the movies he's making these days is palpable, so I find it unfortunate that he is the actor replacing Charles Bronson in the remake of the classic revenge thriller DEATH WISH. This take on the material originated with Joe Carnahan, who was going to write and direct it until he and the studio executives started butting heads over creative issues, like the fact that the higher-ups wanted Bruce Willis to star in the film.
Carnahan is long gone, but Willis has remained attached to the project through script revisions and several directors who have come and gone. Now it looks like they have the director who will stick with it through production – Eli Roth, who'll be working from a draft of the script that was worked on by a pair of writers who have delivered some great scripts in the past, ED WOOD's Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski.
While it remains to be seen if the role of Paul Kersey will be a change of pace for Willis, at least Roth has signed on a pair of awesome actors for him to bounce off of. Joining Willis in the cast are Vincent D’Onofrio (pictured above) as Paul Kersey's brother, and Dean Norris (below) as Detective Rains. I'm a big fan of both of these guys, so their presence does raise my hopes for this movie a bit.
Just like the original DEATH WISH, this remake will center on
a man named Paul Kersey whose life is destroyed by a violent crime against his wife and daughter. Frustrated the bad guys were not brought to justice for the violence and degradation the thugs inflicted on his family, he starts hunting for the perpetrators himself.
Bronson's Kersey never did catch the criminals who attacked his family, but I'm fairly certain that a modern remake will give the man a climactic showdown with those who are to blame.
DEATH WISH will be filming in Montreal and Chicago. Production is set to begin on September 26th.
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