Orci and Kurtzman to Develop Doc Savage! Shane Black to Write Screenplay!
Literally this is one of the most talked about subjects with one of my best friends who is an “older geek” and to his dismay much of his beloved geek material (Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Battlestar Gallactica, Star Wars, Batman, etc.) has been “raped” in every way imaginable through reboots, remakes, reimaginings and everything in between and literally one of his most prized pieces among his fanlore has yet to be touched – Doc Savage.
Now what we like to refer to as the “Geeks Writers of the Century” Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, who were just announced to reboot Hawaii Five-O for CBS television, have a hit show in Fringe and hold the new destiny of the Enterprise in their hands (for now) and in 2 films brought us live-action Transformers. Beyond writing the 2 have begun producing films, the latest was Eagle Eye, which stared Shia Lebeouf, as a smooth talking streetwise loner, who receives a phone call from a mysterious voice only to be sent on a death defying race against feds, time and a shocking mystery that could collapse a the American government. Yeah the movie wasn’t as good as my little description. Point being the 2 writing and producing partners are collectively associated with some of the biggest geek films as properties throughout the fandom and now they ad Doc Savage to the mix.
Ain’t It Cool News‘ Harry Knowles has reported that Orci and Kurtzman are going to be producing the famous comic Doc Savage. Originally published by Street and Smith Publications from March 1933 to the summer of 1949.
Writing the adaptation will be Shane Black (Lethal Weapon). It seems that the Doc Savage character will remain in the 1930s. Other tidbits Knowles found out were:
“Right now, he is preparing to write the script. He has decided that Doc needs to have his Fabulous Five. It will be an original Doc Savage story that attempts to encapsulate the feeling of the whole collection of Lester Dent’s work.”
My pal, mentioned above, introduced me to Doc Savage through the only film to date, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze. The film was made in 1975 and starred Ron Ely as the title character and yes featured his Fabulous Five. The coolest thing about the character was he was very smart and could do everything by himself like a Batman but chose not to and surrounded himself with experts in various fields to help get the job done. The other thing about him was he didn’t have a secret identity he was sort of an independent non-US governmental “James Bond” sort of guy. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the character is that he never killed his enemies instead he put them through his special “acupuncture brain surgery” to cure them of their criminal behavior. Savage addresses a lot of similar themes as The Lone Ranger and fits that sort of pulp action hero mantra.
Back in 2006 it was rumored that Sam Raimi was going to bring Doc Savage back including other pulp heroes like The Shadow and The Avenger. At the time a screenplay was being developed by Siavash Farahani but nothing ever came of that.
A few issues I have with this announcement isn’t Orci and Kurtzman its more of Shane Black, the guy hasn’t impressed me with his slate of films with the exception of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. That being said it could be worse. Doc Savage is a cool character and a fun one. Who they will get to play the role will be interesting and casting the Fab Five is just as important. This could be a 1930s version of Ocean’s 11 meets the Casino Royale reboot of Bond by way of Dr. Benton Quest.
