ROTTEN TOMATOES: Zack Snyder to Helm New Illustrated Man

Zack Snyder to Helm New Illustrated Man

She had lived in the past, and she had lived in the future, and she put it all on him.

by Jeff Giles | August 29, 2007

Zack Snyder, director of the comic book adaptations 300 and the soon-to-start-filming Watchmen, has already demonstrated a fondness for hand-drawn source material. According to Variety, his next project will take its inspiration from a different kind of illustration -- specifically, Ray Bradbury's 1951 collection of short stories, The Illustrated Man.

In the book, eighteen unrelated short stories are threaded together by the narrator's encounter with a drifter sporting animated, storytelling tattoos he claims to have been given by a woman from the future. This isn't the first time The Illustrated Man has been given the film treatment -- in 1969, Rod Steiger starred in the title role -- but Variety refers to the new project as a "redo," not a remake, and in any case, the original film only adapted three of the book's stories; screenwriter Alex Tse could conceivably deliver what amounts to an entirely new movie.

No target release is mentioned for the project, but Snyder -- who is producing the film in conjunction with Di Novi Pictures and Frank Darabont -- will be tied up with Watchmen for the foreseeable future, so we shouldn't expect to see anything for awhile yet.

Source: Variety

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(1-10 of 10 posts) | Reply

hotbox2001 writes:
on Aug 29 2007 04:36 AM

Something interesting at last....

(Reply to this)

OAKTREELIVE writes:
on Aug 29 2007 10:48 AM

Ugh. Raping comics and graphic novels, raping classic literature with a hack like this...not so much.

(Reply to this)

FranklinStreet writes:
on Aug 29 2007 12:12 PM

Call it whatever you want, it's still a remake.

(Reply to this)

twinsfan2715 writes:
on Aug 29 2007 12:24 PM

it's one thing for Snyder to adapt comics, but i dunno if he'll be able to handle the likes of Ray Bradbury. i am a fan of Snyder so i'm definitely optimistic and it sounds like a cool story so i hope it'll be a good movie

(Reply to this)

Allmano writes:
on Aug 29 2007 03:29 PM

hollywood is out of ideas and turning anywhere they can. I believe a few creative people still remain...Tarentino (he's amazing) and Scorsese. But I do like the graphic novel adaptations so far. I'm not a marvel fan though or DC, they are c-r-a-p. (except spiderman 2)

(Reply to this)

IMAmoose24 writes:
on Aug 29 2007 04:17 PM

what movie is Zach Snyder not making?

(Reply to this)

arendr writes:
on Aug 29 2007 05:45 PM

Hmm...interesting. It certainly is a great collection of stories. Not really a fan of Zach Snyder though. As long as he doesn't make it so in your face he might pull it off.

(Reply to this)

Robert_Paulsen writes:
on Aug 29 2007 07:56 PM

I think this has some potential. I am getting sick of hearing about remakes, but as long as they are entertaining i wont complain.

(Reply to this)

Segkee writes:
on Aug 29 2007 08:29 PM

THE DEPARTED was a remake. Just FYI.

(Reply to this)

ckn8 writes:
on Aug 29 2007 10:02 PM

In reply to this comment (#1082670)
Ummm... I like Scorsese as much as the next guy, or likely more, but his recent projects (The Departed, No Direction Home, Aviator and Gangs of New York) were all based on previoius films/books or historical figures. Also, I fail to see what's so wrong with adapting novels into films.

As for "calling it whatever you want..." Since you're giving me an option, I'll call this a film adaption of a novel, thanks. I think it's rather clear that this will not even remotely be based on the previous forgettable film. Whether it's good or bad is a far different story, but it's a new adaption, not a remake. If he was in the business of making remakes I probably would have liked 300 as much as The 300 Spartans.

(Reply to this)

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