Stallone has 'Death Wish'
'Rambo' star, MGM have remake in crosshairs
By MICHAEL FLEMING

After a recent resurgence with sequels "Rocky Balboa" and the upcoming "Rambo," Sylvester Stallone is taking aim at an MGM remake of the 1974 Charles Bronson starrer "Death Wish."

Stallone is in talks to direct and star as an ordinary man who goes vigilante after his wife and daughter are attacked. Set to write the script are Michael Ferris and John Brancato, whose credits include "Terminator 3" and "Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins."

Paramount Pictures controls some "Death Wish" rights and has an option to partner. MGM will make the pic whether or not Par opts in, and if a writers strike is settled in short order, MGM will try to start production before March. Stallone's partner, Kevin King, will be a producer.

Stallone showed surprising box office punch with "Rocky Balboa," which grossed $80 million domestic and $150 million worldwide. MGM distributed that film after splitting the $24 million production budget with Sony and Revolution Studios.

"Death Wish" fits squarely into MGM's long-term strategy of assembling tentpoles based on a 4,100-title library that encompasses post-1985 MGM fare plus UA, Orion, Polygram, Samuel Goldwyn and Cannon titles.

"We are looking at our library to determine which potential franchise properties make the most sense for us to produce, and 'Death Wish' was clearly one of that jumped out," said MGM chief operating officer Rick Sands. "We hope to get a deal done with Sylvester Stallone to direct and star, and like the 'Rocky' and 'Rambo' films, we see this as another potential franchise for him."

Stallone's deal is being made by WMA.

While offerings on the current MGM slate are coming from UA and output deals with financier-producers like the Weinstein Co., Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Lakeshore, the company has placed a priority on generating its own event-sized staples, and is still on the prowl for outside production financing after an attempt to secure $1 billion was dented this summer by the credit crunch.

The gem is the James Bond series. Sony will distribute the 22nd Bond film that begins production in January with Marc Forster directing a Paul Haggis script, but MGM takes back distribution after that, and Daniel Craig is locked into a deal for the first three of those films. Studio is also counting on distributing two installments of "The Hobbit," with hopes that a thaw between director Peter Jackson and New Line over "The Lord of the Rings" will return that helmer back to Middle-earth. Also on the docket is a sequel to "The Thomas Crown Affair," and MGM is still waging a court claim for a stake in "Terminator Salvation."

I'm guessing he won't be going after simple street muggers like in the original.

Well it will be very violent, and from the writers track record they don't shy away from depressing material. Hopefully Stallone can bring some effective pathos.

Death Wish is one of my favorites. I hope Sly can bring the everyman aspect to it, like Bronson did.

I was actually wondering when this would get remade. I'm looking forward to this one.

I hate the Hollywood remake bandwagon. This on the other hand, sounds interesting.

I have trouble seeing Sylvester Stallone in a role originally played by Charles Bronson. A younger Clint Eastwood would work.

If I was casting, my choice would be Samuel L. Jackson. That would add a whole new twist to the premise.

What would be the twist? A black man?

A man who don't like no motherfuckin snakes

If I were to cast the movie I think Gary Sinis would be great in the Bronson role.

It would be very hard to see Stallone pull this role off. Bronson was so perfectly casted as a mild mannered architect and I just can't see Sly filling those shoes. Shouldn't they have casted someone a little younger? Stallone is 60. Bronson was at least in his early 50's when his version came out.

I don't care who's doing it, this is a shit idea. NOBODY is better than Bronson, especially in his signature role. Bronson would fuck Stallone up.

Forget Death Wish, who's gonna star in the remake of Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot?

Didn't they do 2 movies like DEATH WISH this past fall and both didn't do well at the box-office?

The original Death wish films are so unique because of their gritty brutality including the rape scenes. I can't see them recreating such explicit sexual violence nowadays. The uncut version of Death Wish 2 now available on dvd is brutal. You want to see Kersey nails those fuckers because you have seen the violence. If that is off screen, the impact wont be there

Stallone can easily play a 50 yr old character.

The twist could be that he is a high school teacher.

I love, love, love the original series of films, the first one is obviously the best, the second one is pretty good, the third and fourth movies are two of my favorite guilty pleasure movies (the less said about Death Wish V, the better, even if there were some great novelty deaths and Michael Parks).

When I heard about this remake, I didn't have a "WTF! How dare they!" reaction like with the Escape from New York remake or one of Michael Bay's production company follies because I know Stallone is actually an excellent actor when the material is good. Sure, the first three Rocky movies (as campy as the third one is) and First Blood show he has enough energy to carry Paul Kersey, but if you want to see how the guy could probably be great in this role, I implore you to see F.I.S.T and especially Nighthawks if you haven't already. Nighthawks is the reason why I'm actually excited about this; it's NYC-based, and Stallone plays a hardass cop in hot pursuit of German terrorists (Rutger Hauer is the bad guy here!) who has the sort of rugged persona Bronson had in the original.

So, color me interested.

Meh .. I liked it better when it was called The Brave One .. or Death Sentence

Or you could just rent A Time to Kill.

Yeah, I was thinking of that one when I suggested Samuel L. I think he would be perfect based on that performance alone.

Sort of. The original Death Wish presented a notion that whoever the vigilante was, he was racist because the majority of his victims were black. (Although I don't believe Bronson's character was racist at all.) That's basically what I meant by a twist.

And I liked those movies better when they were called Death Wish.

Have you seen Death Wish? The majority of his "victims" were white punks.