As of last December Catch a Fire director Philip Noyce was on board to remake Captain Blood, the 1935 Errol Flynn swashbuckling epic. But six months later, it seems a lot of things have changed. Michael and Peter Spierig will be directing, according to Variety, and as a result, the whole thing will be set in space.
Yes, space. And even producer Bill Gerber admits that the idea is kind of insane. "At first, I felt like I was in that scene in 'The Player,' where Buck Henry pitches the sequel to 'The Graduate,'" he said in Variety. "But when I took a look at their animatic depiction of a pirate battle in space, it had such a distinctive visual look to it that I said, 'Great, I get it.'"
Apparently the story will stay relatively similar, regardless of the location shift-- a doctor escapes prison and joins up with pirates, where he clashes with the head buccaneer when the woman he loved is captured. And after all, you can transplant pretty much any story to space with enough imagination-- where would we be without Star Wars?
The Spieirig brothers are fairly unknown at this point, having made the 2003 horror film Undead and the upcoming vampire movie Daybreakers, which will kick off its release at the Toronto Film Festival in September. The Blood remake is obviously a huge power play for the two, one instance in which suggesting a crazy idea actually paid off. It will be very interesting to see all the copycat screenwriters who want to pull of the same gambit. Star Trek under the sea! No Country for Old Men in Antarctica! The possibilities are endless.
