In an interview yesterday, An American Werewolf In London and Blues Brothers director John Landis revealed his plans to shoot a new genre picture next year…
To mark the launch of his new book, Monsters In The Movies, we were lucky enough to catch up with the legendary film director John Landis for an interview about B-picture cinema, Hollywood, remakes and CG creatures.
We’ll be bringing you the full transcript of that conversation tomorrow, but in the meantime, we just had to share with you a brief bit of news that came up while we talked about his forthcoming movies.
First, there’s some sad tidings for anyone looking forward to what was thought to be Landis’ next film, The Rivals. Described as “a circus of lusty, bodice-ripping liaisons, dueling, rapiers at dawn, back street tavern brawls, deceit, double deceit and double double deceit”, it was based on a play by Richard Sheridan, and reportedly had the likes of Albert Finney, James Corden and Imelda Staunton among its cast.
Sadly, it seems The Rivals is no more. When asked about its status, Landis said, “The Rivals I was supposed to make, and then the money just fell apart. I was really disappointed, because I liked that script very much. And it had such wonderful actors, you know? I don’t know what’s happening, candidly.”
Landis then rather casually mentioned that he’s “doing a little monster movie in Paris next year.” While he wouldn’t be drawn into specifics (“I don’t want to. It’s a surprise,” he said), he was quite positive that he’ll “be making it in 2012.”
This is little more than a news snippet, admittedly, but given that he’s directed some particularly great genre films – An American Werewolf In London is an obvious classic, but we’ve an enduring affection the underrated vampire flick, Innocent Blood, too – his return to this particular strand of cinema is an exciting prospect.
More news on Landis’ monster movie project as we get it.
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