Eli Roth is set to direct Death Wish, the MGM/Paramount remake of the 1974 hit with Bruce Willis playing the reluctant vigilante made famous by Charles Bronson. It becomes the latest effort by Roth to move from his bloody genre-film origins to studio fare. His previous film was the 2015 Keanu Reeves psychological thriller Knock Knock. Roth will direct the script by Scott Alexander & Larry Karaszewski. Joe Carnahan penned the original script. Roger Birnbaum is producing.
Roth takes the job after the exit early last month of Big Bad Wolves helmers Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado, who left over creative differences when they wanted changes in a script Willis had signed off on; the studios didn’t want to go in that direction on what they hope will be a down-the-middle franchise launch. Roth works this in alongside his hosting duties on Shark After Dark, the nightly talk show that runs June 26-30 to cap each day’s programming during Discovery’s Shark Week.
After making his bones directing pics like the Hostel series and the cannibalistic The Green Inferno, Roth has been knock-knocking on the door to make more mainstream fare. He most recently had been attached to direct the prehistoric shark pic Meg at Warner Bros but left that job for creative reasons. WME and attorney Carlos Goodman rep Roth.
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