Ridley Scott Might Direct Adaptation of RED RIDING
Comments(4)
- By benp
According to Variety, Columbia Pictures has snagged the rights to adapt one of this year’s Telluride Film Festival breakout hits, Red Riding. A British mini-series comprised of three separate movies (1974, 1980, and 1983), Red Riding was originally broadcast in the UK, and IFC picked up distribution rights and will (hopefully) get the trilogy in theaters in the States sometime in the very near future (fall of 2009).
The trilogy is a slow burn, a dirty study of crime and corruption involving crooked cops and the abduction of several young girls from the Yorkshire area of England. The interesting thing is that Ridley Scott’s Scott Free Productions is producing the American remake, which will condense all three films into one feature length project. Ridley himself is in talks with the studio to direct the film, but with all that he has on his plate right now (his Alien prequel, that pesky Monopoly film we keep hearing about, etc), I would rather him pass the directing duties to an up-and-comer for this one.
Heck, even Tony Scott might be a better directing fit for this material than his brother. Tony has dealt with the murky, grim reality this series evokes before with Man on Fire, so I think he’d be a better candidate for this gig.
Would you like to see Ridley Scott tackle this adaptation? Have you heard of the Red Riding Trilogy before, and are you even interested in the story condensed into one film?
[Russ Fischer at Slashfilm wrote up a great piece about the trilogy last month - check it out here.]
Anything that Ridley Scott does is a surefire must see. Count me in!
As much as I am a fan of Ridley Scott, he can be very hit or miss with his work, and I would have to agree with benp in that I do not think he would be able to do this movie justice if he took the directors chair, now if we were talking about him producing, then I would have no problem with it.
I agree on the whole hit and miss part of his work. I have to say, the original is very VERY good. And as much as I love Ridley Scott's work, what can he – of all people – bring to the table? Never mind an up-and-coming director?
He's a rich bloke, I'm sure he can bring really delicious cookies. LOL!