There can be only one! Or perhaps two if the previous director leaves the project. It’s been a bump ride for the HIGHLANDER reboot/remake/resomething. Last year director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo left the project and then a second casualty was announced this summer when Ryan Reynolds dropped out. Without a director and without a star, it appeared as though the film may go unmade, but now a new name has stepped up to the challenge. Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, who received an Oscar nomination for his visual effects work on SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, will make HIGHLANDER his directorial debut. Troyan seems very excited by the prospect. Talking to Deadline he stated:
I have been working on my pitch for this since the summer, and when I got there I met the original producer and I just started geeking out and he loved it. The first movie came out when I was a teenager in France and it was one of my favorite films of those years. I loved the series also, they shot a lot of it in France, on the Seine River. My first reaction, like everybody else, was, really, do we need a remake? Then I read the script, and I thought about how Russell Mulcahy was this super visual video director who brought the pulse of the 80s to the film so well. I started thinking about taking those great characters and matching them with a modern, visceral take, and then I was in love with the idea and I just went for it.
Primarily known for his work as a visual effects supervisor, Nicolas-Troyan has been undergoing some directorial training as a second unit director on SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN, as well as the upcoming MALEFICENT. It seems as though he’ll be well versed in the ways of fantasy and reinterpretations by the time it comes to make HIGHLANDER. Still no word on a star though, but you can expect more news soon.
Source: Deadline
