Back to the Future Re-make on the Way!

By Kevin Coll • April 1, 2009 • 129 Comments

UNIVERSAL IS IN THE PROCESS OF FAST TRACKING A REMAKE OF THE 1980′S TIME-TRAVEL CLASSIC.

Ronald Meyer and other key operating officials at Universal announced at this week’s Showest that they have currently sought a new team to re-develop a major staple franchise, Back to the Future, for a new generation of moviegoers.

“We believe that with the financial and development success of franchises like, Batman, Bond and now Star Trek, that it is the time to re-develop some of our fan heavy staples and Back to the Future seemed like the best choice with its MTV appeal but also its fanbase,” says Meyer.

The studio has already brought in renowned TV show creator/writer, Josh Schwartz (The O.C., Chuck, Gossip Girl) to write the script along with Chris Fedak (Chuck). Schwartz has plans to approach long-time friend McG (Charlie’s Angels, Terminator Salvation) to direct the film but other directors will be approached as well, Joss Whedon (Angel, Buffy, Firefly) is said to be considered and heavily favored by the studio.

The studio is already in the process of negotiating with Shia Lebeouf (Transformers, Eagle Eye) to play the principle character, Marty McFly and Jeff Daniels (Dumb and Dumber, Speed) to play Doctor Emmit Brown. Other actors pegged for the lead role, if Lebeouf’s schedule will not permit, are Adam Brody (The O.C., In the Land of Women), Justin Long (Live Free Die Hard, Accepted) and Zachary Levi (Chuck) the studio has said they,

“want to be aggressive in securing the best, marketable actor that can bring a sex appeal to young audiences, much like Michael J. Fox did in 1985.”

The studio also wants to make it known that no principle creative members from the original versions will have any involvement in this new re-boot of the film, Meyer said,

“We believe that Josh, Chris and others can bring this franchise out of the dark ages for a new generation to enjoy, he is not a fan of the original but we believe that is not going to be a problem with this new re-imaging, he can bring a fresh take on the series that has been dormant, in way that new audiences will be more apt at caring about. We love Bob Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg but we feel their mark was left on the originals and they can’t bring anything new to the film franchise series.“

Schwartz told the studio heads he plans on a film that would take Marty and place him into an actual real city setting, like LA or New York, and not the fake Hill Valley. Also Doctor Brown’s origin will be a little different for this version as Schwartz feels that “we can bring more substance to his scientific background in better way.”

Lastly, Fedak mentioned that in the meeting with Meyer and other studio heads, he and Josh, mentioned plans to re-work and re-design the time machine vehicle used to make it more appealing to today’s film audience as well as coinciding with today’s film-making techniques.

“I want to come up with a car concept that will really explode on-screen and give a whole new experience that a Delorean couldn’t do nowadays. I have been thinking of possibly a Hummer that reaches 44 miles per hour instead of 88, and it’s a hybrid one so that will comment on today’s “go green” message,” says Fedak, “Also I have always been a fan of Mac and Apple stuff, so I am already redesigning the ‘flux capacitor’ to look smaller and more aesthetic, more like a ‘nano accelerator’ – it will look a lot like an I-pod nano type thing but still embody the same characteristics and functions of the ‘flux capacitor’.”

Universal Pictures will finance and produce the film. The film is scheduled to be released in summer 2012 with a look at May or July for the release month.

Source: NBC Universal

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