Screenwriter David Koepp, who adapted Jurassic Park, is set to write the remake of an earlier Michael Crichton classic: Westworld. Before Jurassic Park, there was Westworld: another killer theme park movie from the mind of the great Michael Crichton. Released in 1973, it imagined another high-tech attraction where the exhibits run wildly out of control: ... Westworld remake in the offing; David Koepp writing the script
Screenwriter David Koepp, who adapted Jurassic Park, is set to write the remake of an earlier Michael Crichton classic: Westworld.
Before Jurassic Park, there was Westworld: another killer theme park movie from the mind of the great Michael Crichton. Released in 1973, it imagined another high-tech attraction where the exhibits run wildly out of control: in this instance, the titular Westworld, where a robot gunslinger (Yul Brynner) starts blasting away at the rich guests. Why are the robot cowboys armed with real bullets? Shut up!
Crichton’s classic original, which he both wrote and directed, has already been remade once, in Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan’s TV series which began airing in 2016 and was cancelled in 2022.
Now come reports that Westworld is to be remade for cinemas – with screenwriter David Koepp on writing duties. Koepp has previous when it comes to Crichton material: still in his 20s, he successfully adapted the filmmaker and author’s Jurassic Park into a summer thrill-ride for Steven Spielberg – resulting in one of the biggest blockbusters of all time.
Read more: Westworld | The race to make one of the most important films of the 1970s
According to Deadline, Koepp is “going straight back to Crichton’s original film” for the remake, which suggests we’re in for a lean thriller rather than the meditation on artificial life we got in the HBO series. It’s currently unknown who’ll direct, however; Koepp has a track record as a director himself (Stir Of Echoes and Premium Rush are corkers; Mortdecai, much less so).
Deadline writes that there’s a “major filmmaker” circling, mentioned separately from Koepp, which is sure to get the speculation machine ticking over. Koepp has collaborated with Spielberg multiple times over the past 33 years, with the pair most recently working together on the alien visitation thriller Disclosure Day, out in June. Could they be re-teaming once again? We’ll keep you posted as we hear more.
In the meantime, why not check out our 2024 piece on the hurried production of the ground-breaking original, which Crichton managed to make for a remarkably low $1.25m? Toot.
