HIGHLANDER Reboot Finds Director

“There can be only one!”

And luckily for first time director Cedric Nicolas-Troyan, Summit Entertainment’s selected him as their ‘one’ for the Highlander reboot. If you’ve been paying any attention to this project over the past few years, you’ve probably heard your fair shares of rumors, gossip, and misstatements. At one point in time, Justin Lin (of Fast and Furious fame) was employed to direct, but he wisely decided to pseudo-reboot his defunct racing franchise. Seeking another talent, Summit courted Ryan Reynolds to play the lead, but he soon departed as the project floundered in pre-production.

Well, now Summit’s selected a strong candidate, as Nicolas-Troyan’s VFX work in The Ring and Snow White and The Huntsman provided the most memorable moments of those flicks. The director recounts his relationship with the Highlander reboot here…

“I have been working on my pitch for this since the summer, and when I got there I met the original producer and I just started geeking out and he loved it,” Nicolas-Troyan told Mike Fleming Jr.. “The first movie came out when I was a teenager in France and it was one of my favorite films of those years. I loved the series also, they shot a lot of it in France, on the Seine River. My first reaction, like everybody else, was, really, do we need a remake? Then I read the script, and I thought about how Russell Mulcahy was this super visual video director who brought the pulse of the 80s to the film so well. I started thinking about taking those great characters and matching them with a modern, visceral take, and then I was in love with the idea and I just went for it.”

I’m always wary of first-time directors, but this year’s Filth has warmed my heart a bit, as director Jon S. Baird popped his cinematic cherry in a really fun, wonky way. I’d wager that Nicolas-Troyan could provide a similar surprise with the Highlander reboot. Hell, it can’t be any worse than the tv series (please don’t hurt me, fanboys!!! you know I’m only kidding!)

SOURCE: DEADLINE