Wow this is great news. One of the best fantasy epics ever made (and it totally puts the latest
Pirates of the Caribbean film to absolute shame in terms of pacing and narrative structure) and one that I can watch over and over again is the great
Jason and the Argonauts. Now when I was a kid, it wasn't Jason who was my favourite character. I never cared much for him in truth, I always found him a little bit of a mummy's boy and a little weak as a leading man. No, my favourite character was Hercules! Now re-watching the film a couple of years ago it's quite clear that British character actor
Nigel Green who played Hercules in the film is nowhere near comparable to the great
Steve Reeves (pictured left) but when I was a kid I thought he was the man. Half way through the film, Hercules leaves the film to go off on his own adventure and in my youthful days I would come up with all kinds of scenario's for what would happen to the character. I made my own film for him in my head. Many, many years later... it would seem I'm about to get my Hercules film!
Variety are reporting that a Hercules movie is in development at Millenium Films and a script has already been delivered. Sadly it was written by
Sean Hood (
Halloween: Resurrection,
The Crow: Wicked Prayer) but if they can find a good director he might be able to turn it into something special. This should be epic, and they should definitely try and get WETA on the job for this one. It needs big creatures and it has to look better than anything that's out there right now. It needs to wow the kids in every way that Pirates of the Caribbean does.