Holy Mary Mother Of Invention! I am soooooo jonesed right now. I’m sorry folks, this just punches all the buttons for me.
Today, over at THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, Zorianna Kit (a really cool lady I’ve met a couple of times) broke the scoop that Chuck “MASK” Russell and Frank “SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION” Darabont have struck a deal with Arnold Schwarzenegger to star as Clark Savage, Jr.... The Man of Bronze.... DOC SAVAGE!!!
Now, I am a GIGANTIC Doc Savage nutcase. In fact, just this weekend up at CONvergence, I was ranting and raving about how somebody needs to do a kickass DOC SAVAGE film, because that George Pal one, while I love George Pal dearly, just completely missed the boat. Leave it to a pair of geeks like Russell and Darabont to come through for us.
If Arnold was created on the Earth for a reason it was to play DOC SAVAGE. It plays to all of his strengths and right now... Somewhere on Earth, Paul Ivy is screaming with joy.
Now before we get all excited, this is ‘in the script’ stage, and Russell, Darabont and Schwarzenegger all have one prior film commitment before they could get together on this one. So in all likely chances this film will be coming to our screens in 2001 at the earliest. But... Ya know what? 2001 would have DOC SAVAGE and LORD OF THE RINGS, if the crystal ball holds it’s vision nice and stable!
Now, I’ll give a quick breakdown for what composes a DOC SAVAGE movie.
First off, it had better be a PERIOD film set in the thirties. It has got to be serious as a heartbeat with zero camp injected. Doc is the key figure in a team of characters that all consider each other as peers. Doc does not KILL everyone, instead... shock...gasp... He captures the bad guy and performs brain surgury to wipe clean his evil urges (NOTE: We don’t actually need to see Arnold performing Brain Surgury!) It is a film crying out to kick Indiana Jones’ ass.
Brig. General Theodore Marley Brooks (aka “HAM”) is the best dressed, sharp witted honest lawyer the world has ever scene. He carries a sword cane, with a blade coated with a sleeping chemical that instantly affects the victim of his thrust! Ham loves to tease Monk mercilessly.
Lt. Col. Andrew Blodgett Mayfair (aka “MONK”) is an odd slightly simian-featured brilliant chemist that yearns for a good fight in the best Victor McLaglen brawl-y way. He is also quite fond of causing “Ham” as much discomfort as possible, unless it somehow endangers the mission, during which he is all business. He is not a buffoon. He has a pet pig named Habeas Corpus, but this pig does NOT travel everywhere with him like in the George Pal version!
Col. John Renwick (aka “RENNY”) is a fantastic engineer (mechanical, civil, etc) that has abnormally large fists and often times punches his way through wood paneled doors. He often time exclaims, “Holy Cow” and loves being in a no-win scenario.
William Harper Littlejohn (aka “JOHNNY”) is a noted geologist/archealogist that is extremely tall and thin. He’s blind in one eye, and is fond of large words.
Maj. Thomas J Roberts (aka “LONG TOM”) is the short statured electirical genius of the group, who has two gold front teeth, large ears and is a tough little fucker in a fight. I’ve always been fond of this fella.
That’s the crew. They work in tandem with Doc, and this is very much an ensemble film, or had better be. This isn’t a film where the above 5 guys get killed in the first thirty minutes leaving Arnold to kill everyone left behind. This is an ensemble movie.
My pick for a story to adapt is THE SARGASSO OGRE, it’s my fave Doc Savage book, followed closely by THE THOUSAND HEADED MAN.
If you hear the slightest inkling about this film.... Let me know. If you have the script, I would LOVE to read it. I’ve had my Doc Savage Certificate of Savagery hanging on my wall all my life, and this is a film I hope and pray nothing but good things happen with. Please dear lord.... this is a cool one!
