That Bruce Willis DEATH WISH Remake Loses Another Director

Movie Bruce Willis Death Wish about 8 years agoby Ben Pearson

MGM and Paramount just can't seem to crack the Death Wish remake they've been working on for years. The Grey director Joe Carnahan wrote the script and was all set to direct it, but he bailed on the project when the studio insisted that Bruce Willis be cast in the lead. Carnahan didn't like the casting choice, so he walked, and the studio eventually hired the guys who directed the 2013 cult hit Big Bad Wolves to take over. Now Deadline reports that those guys (Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado) have left the movie as well, leaving the project without a director once again.

Graham Yost (Justified) and Dan Gilroy (Nightcrawler) have both rewritten Carnahan's original script, but it's unclear exactly what the problem is with getting this movie off the ground. The subject matter certainly isn't easy — for those who don't know, the first movie followed a guy who turns into a vigilante after his wife and daughter are murdered and sexually assaulted, respectively. This remake is supposed to hew a little closer to the original novel on which the 1974 Charles Bronson film was based, but there seems to be some internal confusion about whether or not that's actually the approach they want to take.

I'll leave you with the letter Keshales and Papushado wrote on social media announcing their departure, which Deadline had translated:

Relief. Finally a bit of breathing room. You probably remember that a few months ago we were bombarded with greetings and congratulations on receiving our first Hollywood job, Death Wish. You might also remember that Navot and I insisted not to comment on the story or on any of your excited posts about it… not even with a “like”.

It’s not like we became snobs overnight. And it’s not like anybody prevented us from speaking out, it’s just that we found ourselves in a terrible situation. On the one hand, we were indeed offered a dream job, we were indeed offered a legendary salary, and we did indeed pass a stressful and amazing audition with the presidents of MGM and Paramount, and we even met and got the approval of one of the toughest most intimidating stars in Hollywood… yes, yes, Bruce Willis himself saw Big Bad Wolves and thought we were the right people for this violent mission.

On the other hand, the news caught us by surprise, because in reality there were huge differences between our vision and the vision of the studio with the famous roaring lion… we wanted to stay away from the original and problematic (albeit fun to watch) Michael Winner film, and move more towards the spirit of the original novel by Brian Garfield – an excellent minimalist novel that never got the cinematic treatment it deserved. We wanted to follow the vision of the director who originally was set to make it, but ultimately was not allowed to – Sidney Lumet. Lumet wanted to direct a film about a simple man, he even thought of Jack Lemmon for the lead, which experiences a terrible tragedy and then falls to the depths of hell. When we imagined the thriller in our minds we thought Taxi Driver, Falling Down… with a bloodcurdling finale like Sicario.

Unfortunately, the time table for the project did not allow us to make the big changes we wanted to make to the script, and as time passed we realized that we were not going to get what we wanted for this project.

Last night, after long deliberations we finally decided to leave the project.

It was not easy.

To know that you’re giving up money, fame, the opportunity to work with a big star… that you’re kicking the door in Hollywood’s face… knowing that you’re disappointing everybody who supported and encouraged you and wanted you to fulfill your dreams –
All this can really mess with your head and make you doubt yourself. And so it did. But anybody who knows us even for a minute, knows that we’ve never compromised on our vision.

These were three grueling months, three months during which time I walked around wearing sunglasses because I was afraid to answer uncomfortable questions.