We ‘re big fans of Sam Raimi who has a really great back catalogue of films that includes a Spiderman trilogy, the Evil Dead films as well as stand alone films that range from thrillers (‘A Simple Plan’) , westerns (The Quick and the Dead’) and quirky oddities, (Crimewave). His most recent film , ‘Send Help’ was great fun and did decent business worldwide. But his next film will be a first for him with the announcement of a Sam Raimi Magic remake.
The original film….
Released in 1978 ‘Magic’ was a horror film with a great pedigree about a mentally fragile ventriloquist who is at the mercy of his vicious dummy, Fats, while he tries to renew a romance with his high school sweetheart. Starring Anthony Hopkins, Ann Margaret and Burgess Meredith. Screenwriter William Goldman adapted it from his own 1976 book and most unusually the film was directed by Richard Attenborough and was his only foray into the genre and is well worth a look.
Who’s behind the Sam Raimi Magic remake?
Mark Swift and Damian Shannon, who wrote Send Help for Raimi (their previous films included ‘Freddy vs. Jason’ and the Friday the 13th remake) have written the script for Sam Raimi’s Magic remake and are reuniting with Sam Raimi and Zainab Azizi from Send Help for 20th Century Studios. Meredith Wieck and Pavan Kalidindi are overseeing the project for Lionsgate.
Adam Fogelson, chair, Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, said, “Sam is the dream director for this project—in fact, his coming aboard represents one of the truly great matches of director and material. The script is fantastic, and we could not be more excited to see Sam’s direction and creative vision take it to another level. We are absolutely thrilled he has chosen to direct the film.”
Fascinating facts….
Upon seeing the doll Fats for the first time, Hopkins was allowed to take the doll home to work with it. However, he wound up being so unnerved by it that he called the consulting ventriloquist in the middle of the night, threatening to throw Fats into the canyon if someone didn’t come and get the doll immediately. Director Richard Attenborough ended up going to Hopkins’ house to calm him down. In fairness the vacant dead eyed look of a plastic faced doll with a rictus grin would unnerve anyone and is perhaps why Amanda Holden is best suited for radio.
related feature : Sam Raimi’s hilarious introduction at the ‘Send Help’ premiere
related feature : We take a look at ‘Magic’ – blu-ray review
Here’s the original trailer for Magic ……
