Saturday, January 22, 2011

Dreamworks Remakes "Timecrimes"


The idea of time travel is easily one of the most interesting devices in film and I'll admit it probably is my favorite type of science fiction story. "Back to the Future" is one of my favorite movies of all time and Shane Carruth's ridiculously underseen and low budget film "Primer" might be the best film you've never heard of.

What's great about the time travel genre is that filmmakers, writers, authors, whoever, can take an idea that technically (okay I'm not a scientist so who knows) can't exist and employ it for creative purposes, adding their own rules along the way. It's always interesting to see how those creative talents will put their own original spin on it, which is why I was drawn to the 2007 low-budget Spanish film "Timecrimes".

The film is an extremely unique take on time travel and crime, with the story following a protagonist as he repeatedly goes back in time and hour to attempt to change the events of a crime that occurs. The film was truly fantastic and sort of mind blowing, so it's only normal that Hollywood wants to remake it.

According to Deadline DreamWorks has picked up the rights from United Artists and has tasked uber-writer Steve Zaillian to rewite it. Tim Sexton had worked on earlier drafts of the script, and on top of rewriting Zaillian will also produce the project.

Zaillian has written a slew of fantastic films in his career, including "Schindler's List," "Awakenings," "Gangs of New York" and "American Gangster." On top of that the writer has been the Hollywood go-to-guy of late, working on the scripts for two hotly anticipated films, Bennet Miller's "Moneyball" and David Fincher's "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo."

Nacho Vigalondo, who wrote and directed the original, will serve as executive producer.

Honestly if you don't have a chance to see the film and don't mind some spoilers, hop over to the original film's Wikipedia page and check it out, because the whole story is utterly original and fascinating. I have a feeling Zaillian is going to turn in a great script and no matter who takes the helm to direct, the one should be as good at the original….Hopefully.

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