Mike Fleming

logans-runUPDATE WRITE-THRU: Warner Bros is making a deal with Carl Erik Rinsch to direct Logan’s Run, the remake of the 1976 futuristic science fiction film about a man who tries to outrun a mandatory death sentence before he turns 30.

Silver Pictures’ Joel Silver and Andrew Rona are producing with Weed Road’s Akiva Goldsman. Kerry Foster’s exec producer.

Rinsch intends to direct the film after he completes 47 Ronin, the Universal Pictures action film that will star Keanu Reeves.That film hasn’t been green lit but Hossein Amini is doing a script polish and the film is on track to begin production in January.

Rinsch pitched his own take on Logan’s Run, and the studio will soon hire a big writer to draft a version that is closer to the novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. The age of the protagonist will be closer to the book, where the protagonist realized he was going to be killed on his 21st birthday and fled. The original movie changed the age to be closer to that of the film’s star, Michael York. He played Logan 5, a “Sandman” whose job it was to put to sleep permanently  those who try to escape a mandatory death sentence when they reach a certain age. That’s the only drawback of serene life in a domed city that protects the inhabitants who survived a holocaust in the 23rd Century. Overcrowding necessitates adults to choose  to become runners who try to survive outside the bubble, or choose the “Carousel”–billed as a rebirth, but actually a death sentence. Logan 5 poses as a runner, but discovers the outside world is worth saving. He then is pursued by another Sandman.

Though he’ll make his feature directing debut on one of these pictures, Rinsch is building more buzz than most new directors and he has come close to some big jobs. He made his name as a protege of Ridley and Tony Scott, shooting commercials for their RSA banner. They set him to direct the Alien prequel at Fox, until Ridley Scott decided to make the film himself. More recently, he was on the short list of candidates to direct X-Men: First Class. Warners has been high on Logan’s Run for years. The studio and Silver seemed to have the picture on the fast track with Bryan Singer directing. But he ultimately dropped out of the film.

The project that really put Rinsch on the map at studios is The Gift, a short film that he created for electronics company Phillips, where five directors each made a film using the same few lines of dialogue. Online reports had studios bidding for a movie version of The Gift, but I’m told reliably that the project was never going to be a feature. It certainly made a fantastic calling card for the CAA-repped director. Watch the film below: