Shawn Levy Teases Casting For STARMAN Remake
A few months ago, word came out that Night at the Museum and Real Steel director Shawn Levy would be remaking John Carpenter's 1980s sci-fi love story Starman. While Levy was out promoting the new Spielberg-influenced Netflix series Stranger Things (which he executive produces), Levy spoke with ComingSoon about the tone of the new Starman and finding a leading man to step into Jeff Bridges' alien shoes:
“I have to say, I was really inspired by this show,” Levy told us. “I haven’t done television in a long time, the movies have kept me really busy. I hadn’t done this genre or this tone. It came to me really organically and it’s definitely something I want to keep doing and ‘Starman’ is a very rich opportunity to do that.
“I do [have casting ideas], but they would kill me at Sony if I mentioned it. I’ll just very enigmatically say that some of my top ideas are people I’ve worked with before either as a director or a producer.”
ComingSoon helpfully compiled this list of actors he's worked with in that capacity, in what they perceive to be the order of likelihood that the actor would be cast in this movie: Hugh Jackman (Real Steel), Mark Ruffalo (Date Night), Adam Driver (This is Where I Leave You), Miles Teller (The Spectacular Now), Anthony Mackie (Real Steel), Bradley Cooper (The Rocker), Steve Carrell (Date Night), Mark Wahlberg (Date Night), Corey Stoll (This is Where I Leave You), Jeremy Renner (Arrival), Rami Malek (Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb), Dan Stevens (Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb), James Franco (Date Night, Why Him?), Wyatt Russell (Table 19), Ben Stiller (Night at the Museum trilogy, The Watch), Owen Wilson (The Internship, Night at the Museum trilogy), Jason Bateman (This is Where I Leave You), Vince Vaughn (The Internship, The Watch).
In that list, one name stands out to me: Rami Malek. I think the Mr. Robot star could bring a similar otherworldly quality to the role, and it'd be a nice step up into leading man territory on the big screen.
Levy spoke at length about his love for the original, which may quell some fears of fans who think he's remaking it purely on name recognition alone:
“To me, I think it’s brilliant,” Levy insisted. “It was an Oscar nomination for Jeff Bridges, it’s thick with ideas and incredibly rich with romantic feelings, and those are the things I’m going to carry over into this updated version. I don’t know why it’s kind of separate in the canon of Carpenter, but I think it’s magnificent. The premise is filled with ideas that are interesting to revisit in a different way in 2016. It fits less neatly in his genre legacy, but I think it’s absolutely one of his finest films. I am going to try to be faithful to the romantic spine to the story but also the fish-out-of-water humor which is genuinely charming and winning in a way that Carpenter and Bridges filmed it.”
It certainly seems like he's passionate about the original, but we'll have to wait and see if his good intentions translate into a good remake.