Rege-Jean Page is to play Simon Templar, as Doug Liman is the latest to get his hands on The Saint. So to speak.
After enjoying significant success on the small screen – hello Roger Moore! – the TV series The Saint made the jump to blockbuster cinema in the back end of the 1990s. That was when Val Kilmer took on the role of Simon Templar, the career choice given at the time for him exiting what became Batman & Robin.
Phillip Noyce directed The Saint, but plans for a big screen franchise were muted by the less than stellar box office receipts, and the lack of a bunch of people at Paramount Pictures clamouring for a sequel.
Still, as properties such as The Equalizer have more elegantly turned into cinema hits, so a fresh take on The Saint has been bubbling along for a while. At one stage, as he told this very outlet, Dexter Fletcher spent several months developing the film, before dropping out.
Still, Rege-Jean Page was secured a while back to take the lead in the film, and Paramount just needed to sort out who was going to direct. That man? It’s Doug Liman, whose career has covered films from Edge Of Tomorrow and Swingers through to Chaos Walking and The Bourne Identity.
Liman will be taking on the film now he’s headed to post-production on his next feature, a remake of Road House. Well, there’s also the small matter of The Instigators, that he’s got to shoot for Apple, starring Matt Damon. But yeah, once his docket is cleared, and not forgetting that film where he’s sending Tom Cruise to actual space, Liman will fit it in.
There’s some schedule juggling that needs to take place here, and Liman has been hired to also oversee the development of the picture. Take that as Hollywood-speak for they’ve not yet got a script they’re happy with, so it’s going to buy everyone a bit of time.
More as we hear it, then. But that’s four films on Liman’s slate at the moment. In what order they come out, we wouldn’t want to place a bet…
