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EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Fox is going Commando again, setting David Ayer to write and direct a reboot of the 1985 film that became one of the building blocks that transformed Arnold Schwarzenegger from bodybuilder to superstar. Erwin Stoff and John Davis will produce the new version.
Ayer is the former Navy soldier who wrote Training Day and moved into directing with the dark dramas Harsh Times and Street Kings. He will put his own real-world spin on this original premise: a retired elite special forces operative sees his daughter kidnapped and is told she’ll die unless he gets on a plane and kills the rival of a nasty exiled dictator. In the original, Schwarzenegger jumped off the plane before takeoff, and killed everyone involved in the kidnap plot, in a real beefcake turn that followed Terminator. Ayer’s protagonist will be less brawny, but more skilled in covert tactics and weaponry. Hopefully the new version will hang onto some of the fun spirit of the original, the first of several film collaborations between Schwarzenegger and producer Joel Silver where they blew up everything in sight. Rae Dawn Chong played the flighty flight attendant who became the commando’s reluctant accomplice, Dan Hedaya played the diabolical dictator, and a young Alyssa Milano played the kidnapped daughter.
It’s the second big reboot of an Arnie action film for Fox. The studio has a July 9 release date on Predators, a new chapter of a franchise launched by Predator, the 1987 Schwarzenegger classic.
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Arnold is getting a little soft and a whipped looking, ( Kennedy’s)
will do that to you, and California), I think Arnold would jump at
the chance to get in front of the screen again, wouldn’t hurt the
public image any either. And…Jesse “The body”Ventura, with all of his ex-governorship down-time,and it’s not like the two haven’t combined “insane”, testosterone to produce top box office hits of
the 80′s, God, I love the 80′s!,and….,wait for it, two blond-
bomb-shells, Hulk Hogen and Dog “the Bounty Hunter”, as new and
improved, hired, bad acting muscle to finish what Bennet started
20 years ago, and hell yah! Alysa Milano should be back, to help
geriatric ol’ dad, KICK SOME ASS! I’d make a great screen-writer
huh? seriously think about it, still has the 80′s ou-tr’e but
my-self, as an educated woman in her “upper”, 40′s would “pay”
to go see that at a theater!
Corrections:
1. In the original, Schwarzenegger jumped off the plane a few seconds AFTER takeoff.
2. The 1987 Schwarzenegger classic is titled Predator.
I cringed until I saw Ayer’s attachment. Could be SUPER cool, but then again, why not give Ayer a few plot points and tell him to run with an original? Why the reboot of something so general?
This is an absolute travesty. Commando is a relic of the 80s and that’s its appeal. There is no way you can top Dan Hedaya, Bill Duke and Vernon Wells’ performances. There is absolutely no need to remake this movie.
Are you serious? You uncreative, inept studio bastards. All of you should go through screenwriting and directing 101 at USC and learn the art of storytelling so you can help support an original concept. Lazy d-bags…this is a slap in the face to anyone trying to create something from nothing. No faith in anything beyond your own narrow minded perspectives that isn’t a remake or video game or comic book adaptation. Grow some balls and stop remaking films of the past. Lazy idiots.
And by the way, HARSH TIMES was so poorly directed that it couldn’t find a home with a legit distributor despite being produced for pennies with three great actors in Bale, Rodriguez and Longoria. Learn how to edit and shoot (yes, the cinematography of STREET KINGS was terrible) and then maybe, just maybe you should be award a legit picture, Ayers. Hack!!
Hollywood sure is in some sort of writers block or something!!!! ORIGINAL STUFF PLEASE!!!
Sully stares at FOX
“You fvcking whore”
Where is Mark Lester when we need him? In case you people forgot — he directed ‘Commando”… As for Hollywood remake the trend is far from over. Expect “Gigli 2″ and redos of the entire Pauly Shore canon in the near future.
Fox should ditch this dumb idea of a remake and just get older Schwarzenegger to play JOHN MATRIX again. Then get older sexy Alysa Milano to come back as well. That would be a huge hit. What the hell is Fox and John Davis thinking??? Get ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER and call it COMMANDOS. Make it a sequel to the cult classic original!!!
This is an idea I actually wouldn’t mind.
I am a huge Commando fan and watch it a few times a month. The only actor who can do a half a good as job as Schwaezenwgger in this movie would be Jason Statham. He is one of the best action stars of our time right now.
Also if they do go ahead with this remake they must keep one of the most hilarious lines in movie history in it when Sully says to the one girl “You f**king whore” when she turns him down.
This is the worst news I’ve heard in easily the last 10 years! Commando is a classic gem. Maybe FOX will remake Citizen Kane next? Hell, I bet they don’t even get the suit-up scene right.
Remakes of properties that were pretty much entirely personality based like THE HONEYMOONERS or I LOVE LUCY do not succeed. When you are remaking COMMANDO, you are not remaking the story of a special ops guy out to save his daughter from third world thugs, you are remaking Arnold Schwarzeneggar from the 80′s…which of course you can’t do. So whatever this ends up being, it won’t bare any resemblance to the original or at the very least it will retain nothing of what made the original such a fan favorite. Likely the result will be something along the lines of XXX 2 with Ice Cube. It may succeed anyway because people will go see any trash remake despite all their protestations…but whatever comes out called COMMANDO will have the name but bare no resemblance to original. Because in the end…”all I care about is CHENNNYYY!!!”
Come on everyone, what do you expect? Studio Execs aren’t in the business of being creative…they’re in the business of BU$INE$$.
Why gamble their reputation and million$ getting an unproven idea greenlit when they can at least blame their failure on having hedged their bets ?
Let’s face it: Hollywood now has hit upon the concept that they’ll just remake everything every 5-10 years. It’s no longer the bold, imaginative machine it was in its heyday when it could truly position itself as an icon of American imagination. It’s now a recycling plant.
Oh well.
It’s only a matter of time before the Kindergarten Cop remake…
Like it or not, Hollywood has always remade its product; the difference is that with fewer films being made today the proportions seem bigger. ‘The Maltese Falcon’ we all know and love with Bogart was actually the 2nd or 3rd third production of the story, to name a really old example. Remakes carry with them something that original product doesn’t — name recognition, and with that comes a sense of safety, even if it’s false. Audiences have *heard* of the property and studios assume there is less risk (not true). That’s why so you see so many remakes and TV shows made as films. And, honestly, some of them are good — ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ remake from a couple of years ago was phenomenal, a film that acknowledged the original but took the story to new heights. At least most studios are smart enough to stay away from the really big, iconic films — I get shivers when I hear that a ‘Jaws’ remake is in the works – bad idea. That said, I’d still like to see more original scripts being made.
AHHHHH — Neo — what are you doing? Tomorrow some studio is going to announce they are redoing ‘enter the dragon” — thanks a lot — AND you won’t even get any credit!!
Fox really has lost the plot. WHAT IS THE POINT? Commando is Commando becasue it was an 80′s Arnie movie. You make it a realistic 00′s movie you have got Bourne or Taken. Fare enough, but why not just make a new movie with a similar plot, after all it’s not exactly the most original.
I wonder if the soundtrack for the remake will have as much steel drum music as the original?
“I eat Green Berets for breakfast and right now I’m very hungry!”
Pure waste of time and energy. Arnold and the cheeky attitude made that movie what it is today. Its just a fun ride. This one is just going to have a post-modern serious, Jason Bourne-Liam Neeson Taken bent. PG-13 trifle. Pass.
As long as David Patrick Kelly (Sully) is in it, it’s alright by me!
Ahem, Mike. There is no such thing as a “Navy soldier.” Sheesh, Hollywood and the military…
Dave was in the submarine service and wrote a script about it called “Squids” that Art Linson was going to produce at one time. I’ve known him since he was a teenager.
I like his take on the change as described and I’m sure he’ll do a great job on it. Frankly, that was one of the weaker Arnold action pics if you ask me. This might end up being Dave’s best yet directing-wise. Be hard to top Training Day for writing, though.
A remake of this movie would be a shame. Let it rest. The flaws in it, are what made the movie so good.
They should look into the Tom Clancy universe. I’d die to see more John Clark. Without Remorse would be great. A story in the same pattern as Commando. Bringing Rainbow Six to the big screen would also be great imo.
Here is my problem with this and action movies in general. I quote from the article ” Ayer’s protagonist will be less brawny, but more skilled in covert tactics and weaponry.” What made movies like Commando, Predator, Die Hard, etc. so much fun was that it had these huge monster-muscled action stars just going right in and overcoming huge odds by brute force. The thing about Arnie was he looked like a bad ass, and was portrayed as a bad ass.
However, I can only name one and a half action stars in their prime who are bad ass (Jason Statham, and perhaps Vin Diesel although he has been transitioning into kids films like The Rock and his action characters with the exception of Riddick are lame). I mean seriously, who is really worried that they would be beaten up by someone like Shia LeBouf, Adrien Brody or Topher Grace (Transformers and Predators respectively). I mourn the fall of the great action hero and if we remake Commando, at least don’t give us some lame anorexic hero sneaking around but give us another guy who just doesn’t take this shit like Arnie in the original.
This is my first comment ever. I swear to God I thought this was a joke at first but clearly it isn’t. This town is fantastic. We rep the brilliant and hardcore Vernon Wells. Somebody better call us when the time is right, we will whip him back into Bennett-shape. God bless Hollywood.