A futuristic
Mask of Zorro? Douglas Fairbanks will be turning in his grave but then why the hell not? It's 2011 and haven't we become desensitized to this kind of franchise reboot trick by now and I guess I would rather see this than another origin story of the original caped crusader.
I think so, anyway.
L.A. Times report that 20th Century Fox, forever the most dubious of franchise film studio's, are in the early stages of developing
Zorro Reborn, a new script which would transform our masked Mexican avenger, Bruce Wayne's inspiration into becoming Batman no less, into a desolate & post-apocalyptic setting as a 'one-man vigilante force bent on revenge seeking'. Revenge on who or what or even what the catalyst was for Armageddon is anyone's guess but we are told the proposed movie would be part Sergio Leone Western/part No Country For Old Men. The film would have absolutely no connection to Sony's recent franchise that starred
Antonio Banderas and
Catherine Zeta Jones and was directed by Casino Royale helmer
Martin Campbell which in 1998 at least - produced one fairly enjoyable swashbuckling adventurer that Sony dropped the ball for franchise spinning by getting around to it's sequel, the tepid 2005 effort
The Legend of Zorro, at least six years too late and by then nobody cared. I don't know how to pronounce his name but
Rpin Suwannath is to direct, a pre-vis supervisor from Van Helsing and X-Men: First Class - so he has close experience of seeing directors re-imagine and reboot famous characters & worlds. The script for Zorro Reborn comes from
Lee Shipman and
Brian McGreevy, the writers behind the Dracula re-imagning movie
Harker at WB which Unknown director Jaume Collet-Serra is to helm; a King Arthur reboot titled
Pendragon; and a re-imganing of The Count of Monte Cristo that would be set in the London underworld titled
Once Upon A Time In Hell and it would seem to be they've found a profitable career for themselves in putting a twisted spin on old favourites. If it's a post-modern take on classic but importantly 'out of copyright' literature you want then these are the guys you need. Though don't expect Zorro Reborn in theatres anytime soon, this one's in the early stages of development and it will only take one Fox exec to think it's a dumb idea before the plug is pulled. Much like WB's idea to set reboots of Captain Blood in space and Robin Hood in the future... which quietly died down after much embarrassment online over their respective ideas.