Men Of Violence: Mel Gibson To Direct A Remake Of THE WILD BUNCH
I mean, the joke is right there in the headline.
According to Deadline, Mel Gibson has signed with Warner Brothers to co-write and direct a remake of Sam Peckinpah's all-timer ode to men of violence, The Wild Bunch. His co-conspirator in this questionable endeavor will be screenwriter Bryan Bagby, who hasn't had a credit to his name since the only line on his filmography, 2000's L.I.N.X. (whatever that is).
If I have to tell you what The Wild Bunch is, I'm not really sure why you're reading this site (but here it goes, anyway): Peckinpah's '69 deconstruction of the Old West starred Wiliam Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O’Brien, Warren Oates, Jaime Sanchez and Ben Johnson as old outlaws who team up for one last score while the landscape they know (and have killed plenty of men within) dies around them. It's one of the greatest movies of all time, and redefined the way violence was shot and edited, thanks to Peckinpah's trademark slow-motion destruction of the human form.
To be honest, Gibson's one of the most intriguing action filmmakers we have right now, his similar appreciation for death and destruction giving movies like Braveheart and Hacksaw Ridge their most impressive, anti-real moments. Seeing him tackle one of the most innovative takes on hard living gunslingers doesn't honestly sound that bad.
On the other hand: nope. I can think of ten directors off the top of my head that won't bring Gibson's bullshit hateful baggage to this project, and would probably end up making a better movie. Imagine Jeremy Saulnier crafting a Wild Bunch redux. That shit would be bananas.
To be fair, this movie could be a ways off (and might not happen at all). Gibson's still prepping Destroyer, the WWII drama he'll helm with Mark Wahlberg starring, which Deadline also says is scouting locations in Australia as the production finalizes financing. So, at the very least, we probably have a few years before this picture even gets rolling. For all we know, Trump will push the big red button by then and none of this matters.
Meanwhile, Gibson will appear next in S. Craig Zahler's Dragged Across Concrete opposite Vince Vaughn (where the two play dirty cops staking a heist of their own). I see it at Beyond Fest in two weeks, so you guys will have a reaction then. Stay tuned...
