Freddy Beans here with some HIGHLANDER news out of Collider.
Art via Cinematerial.
Director Chad Stahelski (JOHN WICK series) has been the chosen ‘one’ to direct the new vision of HIGHLANDER, since 2016. He spoke with Steve Weintraub on the set of JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3 – PARABELLUM recently:
“Still fighting the good fight. Highlander is an interesting property. It’s through Lionsgate as well and Neal Moritz. We’re trying to get it done. Anyone who knows anything about the property knows it has a lot of meat to it. It’s a good property. It’s got a lot of potential. We’re just trying to figure out the best way not to fuck it up. Not to try and fit it into a 1 hour, 45 minute movie, which, when your pitch is, ‘There can be only one,’ and in your first movie you kill everybody but the one, sequels have a problem of happening. So we’re trying to design in a way that gives us a little more lead in, a little more time with the mythology and see some of the best characters. They did seven seasons of TV, and even though the TV show may not hold up today, the idea of it and the characters they brought in were super cool. So we’re trying to devise a methodology that leads up to The Quickening. You just don’t end with a one-on-one battle in New York, cut off a guy’s head, and that’s it. We want to do this in such a way that it becomes more of a series whether it’s short form or long form that would let us explore that in the best way. I have a huge, heartfelt love and respect for the project, so we’re trying to find the best way to do it to give fans what they want.”
“We’re well past the script phase in terms of what we want to accomplish with a feature-length version of what we want and based on there being more after that. We want to tell the complete story of The Quickening, the Immortals, and all that. But the overall environment is changing so much. Look what Netflix is doing with TV now. As an action designer myself, there are two or three episodes of Game of Thrones that blow away 90% of features. Netflix has a whole new delivery system with features on that coming off differently and letting filmmakers and directors expand out without being crushed by opening weekend box office. So there’s a couple different mediums we want to explore and what is the best way to bring this out in.
This sounds perfect to me. The article is a bit critical and I’m not sure I agree. If you have been on this series since 1986’ original then you know what I mean. Anyone seeing this as anything but an expansive series is missing out on the big picture. I agree with a couple points, mainly that it’s a cult property. The world has changed and cult is in, so I respectfully disagree. The potential here is immense and I love the guy (be)heading this project, so I’m extremely optimistic.
For those that don’t know, the Immortals are a bunch of well, immortals that have a penchant for murdering one another. The Quickening, is the euphoric experience of beheading your adversary and all his wisdom and experience entering your body upon his death.
I’m not a fan of the 1992-1998 tv series. That said, 7 years, there’s a lot to mine there. I really hope Chad goes shitbag crazy here. The HIGHLANDER series could be just as action packed as his John Wick series. That would leave two badass franchises for Chad Stahelski. He should have John Wick meet the new Connor MacLeod and determine the ‘king of the hill.’
Til next time Kids
Freddy beans
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FreddyBeansWrites/?ref=bookmarks
Instagram: freddybeans13
Contact me: freddybeans@gmail.com
