Man, Rob Cohen has been doing a lot of talking lately. The director, whose past credits include The Fast and the Furious and xXx, made the publicity rounds on behalf of his upcoming adaptation of James Patterson’s Alex Cross (in theaters on Oct. 19). Yet while he opened up a bit about Tyler Perry and Matthew Fox, he repeatedly talked about future projects he’d love to dive into if given the opportunity.
Cohen told reporters that his xXx sequel is dormant as he waits for Vin Diesel to stop making Furious movies … while, at the same time, admitting that he would return to that franchise (which he launched) if given the chance. The Cohen told ComingSoon that he’s putting together a found-footage-style action film that will use multi-media in some way to assemble a story. He’d like to do it with Jason Blum, the producer behind the Paranormal Activity series.
But Cohen didn’t stop there. He also updates the site on the status of his planned Monster Squad reboot (Cohen produced the original), saying, “It's sitting at Paramount. It's a great script. I've been kicking them. … They don't roll over. I don't understand it. I'm hoping that one day we just get a call that they've finally seen the light of day.”
Yet, if they don’t move on that, Cohen says he’s also cooking up a period thriller centered around Sir Isaac Newton’s little-known detective adventures. Um, what?
“Isaac Newton was a detective at the latter part of his life. He worked for the royal mint as warden of the mint and master of the royal mint. His job was to track down counterfeiters. So I've got this great physicist tracking down the worst counterfeiter ever, this guy William Chaloner. It's all real and we're using physics and things to motivate the action.”
Part of me loves the fact that Cohen’s just spit-balling all of these ideas, particularly as he heads into 1950, a Korean War drama that he has been shaping for years. Will any of these happen? Perhaps. Alex Cross making a fortune will help. Let’s see how that one does, because it could buy Cohen some needed clout.
