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EXCLUSIVE: Warner Bros is finalizing a deal with Ryan Gosling to reunite with his Drive director Nicolas Winding Refn on Logan’s Run, the remake of the 1976 futuristic drama about a man who tries to outrun a mandatory death sentence that awaits all 30-year old’s. After a distinguished run in mostly independent films, Gosling’s making the jump to a studio tent pole. Production starts in the fall.
Studios all over town have been offering roles to Gosling, who is eager to reunite with the director he just worked with on Drive, in which Gosling plays a stunt driver who moonlights as a heist wheel man. Warner Bros has been trying to get Logan’s Run off the ground for years. The project first became a priority when Bryan Singer wanted to direct it. Singer, who was drawn to the themes of the obsession with youth and mortality in as utopian society. Singer exited and the project languished until Carl Erik Rinsch signed on with a new take. While Warner Bros got a strong script from Alex Garland, Rinsch exited to direct the Keanu Reeves-starrer 47 Ronin for Universal Pictures. Silver Pictures’ Joel Silver and Andrew Rona are producing with Weed Road’s Akiva Goldsman, with Kerry Foster exec producing.
In Logan’s Run, Gosling will play Logan 5, a “Sandman” whose job it was to put to permanent sleep those who try to escape mandatory death, the downside of the blissful existence in the domed city that protects the inhabitants who survived a 23rd Century apocalypse. In the William F. Nolan novel, the age of extinction was 21, but it was changed in the original film to match up with original star Michael York. That age works great for Gosling, who just turned 30. But the question is whether Gosling wants to go the commercial route. His one real mainstream commercial outing was The Notebook, and that was a hit. He stars with Steve Carell in the upcoming Warner Bros comedy Crazy, Stupid, Love, and has been on studio wish lists for such jobs as playing Jack Ryan in the reboot at Paramount. He has been content to focus on indie fare. That includes Half Nelson, Lars and the Real Girl, and most recently terrific performances in Blue Valentine and All Good Things. He’s booked to next star in the George Clooney-directed The Ides of March. IFA and manager Carolyn Govers rep Gosling, WME and Anonymous Content rep Refn.
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Remaking another classic, huh? This will certainly be a massive failure. How long before all Hollywood classics are remade?
In what bizarro universe is the original film a classic? It was considered a cheesefest even back in the 70s.
The novel (which you clearly haven’t read) IS a classic, and the original film all but defecated on it, jettisoning so much that it really only took the concept.
Readapting the source material is a GREAT idea.
Agreed. Could be a pretty awesome movie, and while I didn’t love “Valhalla Rising,” Refn is clearly a very talented director with a strong vision.
“Classic movie” and “Cheesefest” are not mutually exclusive, especially where sci-fi movies are conerned. I enjoy the original film to this day, in large part because of the wonderful cheese. Sometimes cheese beats polish and a studio’s fear of not capturing the broadest possible market. And no, I haven’t read the book, although now I plan to!
Not to be a sci-fi contrarian, but it should read “In the “William F. Nolan AND George Clayton Johnson novel” as it was co-written by two incredibly talented and rather diverse science fiction writers, not one (though Nolan penned the two sequels, “Logan’s World” and “Logan’s Search” on his own
Thank you for commenting that George Clayton was the other writer.
The book is a wonderful frolic… God willing the remake will do justice to the book..
I’ve read a few other articles about this where Nolan’s name only was mentioned…
Johnson, in my opinion is a remarkable write.. as can be evident in his Twilight Zones including Nothing in the Dark, Kick the Can and A Game of Pool.
I’ve been anticipating a remake of this forever… Gosling seems like a good fit.
That is a huge coup d’état of legitimacy for that project. Now the chance that it might actually be cool has been thoroughly enhanced.
In no one’s universe is LOGAN’S RUN a classic. Sorry. And the IMDB says that Gosling was born in 1980. I believe he just turned 31, not 30. RUNNER!
12 November 1980, which makes him 30, not 31.
I loved Logan’s Run, enough to watch more than one or two of the series. It is indeed a classic, and a warning.
NOT TO WORRY! Warners will just hire ILM to DE-AGE Gostling from 31 to 21 a la BENJAMIN BUTTON and TRON LEGACY. He ain’t a runner now…
AGE is no longer a factor in movies – for men, anyway. (But you know there’d be howls of horror if a actress tried it!)
when will people wake up and realize no one wants to see gosling and that he has zero audience appeal outside of the industry.
Things change. All big names have to cross over from ‘actor’ to ‘star’ somewhere. This could be his big break.
I am going to have to beg to differ with you that one, Mike. Let me guess, he beat you out for the lead role in “The Notebook” and you’ve vowed to hate him for all eternity?
Ryan gosling is one our greatest actors. He should do more commercial fare.
I liked this film, but I’m not sure how I feel about a remake this short after that Timberlake-Seyfried film with similar themes (the obsession with youth etc)
This sounds awesome. Nick Refn is a huge talent and Gosling is amazing.
What have you seen from the director that makes him a “huge talent”? I’ve only seen Valhalla Rising of his, and it was one of the most boring movies I’ve ever seen. I never give anything 1 star on Netflix, but I did for that one.
Watch Bronson or the Pusher Trilogy. They’ll blow your mind. Valhalla Rising was essentially an experimental film, and it’s superb on LSD.
I thought I was the only one who watched it that way. Too funny. But agreed, it is a great drug movie.
Hahaha me too!
You should watch any of the Pusher movies.
Bronson is pretty bad ass.
Yeah it is! Tom Hardy has never been better and that’s saying a lot.
Valhalla Rising was the “one of the most boring movies you’ve ever seen?”
Congratulations. You have horrible taste in film.
You need to watch Bronson. The fatal flaw is that it had no story, but the direction and the performance that he got from Hardy is fucking brilliant. He was on my short list or sure.
The ‘no story’ is purposeful in my opinion. Read up on the prison Charles Bronson and you’ll understand why nothing is explained…. Nobody really knows why he became what he is and the film addresses that (by not addressing it) very well!!
Ooops, I mean to say ‘read up on the our most famous prison, Charles Bronson and you’ll…’
Dear Brian,
Sorry to talk-back on the talk-back, but Gosling was, in fact, born in 1980 and, in fact, just turned 30.
Am I the only one to remember The Island from a few years back with Ewan Macgregor and Scarlett johanssen? If that wasn’t a re-make of Logans Run,then I don’t know why they’d bother to do it again. It sucked and was a significant failure.
Bingo. When I say The Island was basically a Logan’s Run remake people look at me like I’m crazy.
Exactly what my hubby and I thought the first time we watched that movie. What a ripoff!
Would love to nominate Jessica Biel as Jessica….love to see that bod swimming around naked!
I was really hoping that the remake, if it ever got made, would stick closer to the book. I don’t mind the change to 30 years as the limit of life, but would like to have seen them lose the domed city thing for the open world of the novel and recreate the chase across the continent as Logan and Jessica run. Francis was a much more complex and interesting character in the book and this version of the character would make the film much more interesting IMO. While I am definitely part of the film’s cult following, I would really like to see the book’s superior story, characters and a lot of the action that just doesn’t translate to a domed city on screen. The chase scene on what amounts to rocket powered sticks alone would make for great film action.
I concur that they’d be better served sticking closer to Nolan’s work(s) than the movie. There’s so much more depth to the novel, but I fear we’re to be treated to a rehash of Anderson’s film.
While his name was being bandied about several years ago, I was really hoping that, even though I despised him at the time, Leo DiCaprio would play Logan as a 21 year-old, but now he looks too old to pull it off, even as a 30 year-old. He had the arrogance that the literary Logan had, as well as ‘that look’, like an animal sizing up its prey.
Endless, mindless cannibalism of our own pop culture, turning in on itself in a never-ending spiral, becoming sterile and impotent in the process. A culture dies when nostalgia becomes art.
Um, I am ok with this.
But, before he does this, he must do BOURNE… No question that he is the best candidate in hollywood to step into them shoes…..
RYAN GOSLING FOR BOURNE 2012!
It’s a great story so it has a lot of potential- it could definitely work.
After seeing Nicolas Winding Refn’s Bronson and Valhalla Rising (the latter which is like Malick on acid), I could not be more excited for this and Drive. This guy is a major talent just waiting for his big breakthrough. The fact that he’s working with Gosling on both films is just the bonus. I think it’d be pretty awesome if they cultivated a director-star relationship ala Scorsese-DiCaprio or Burton-Depp. Refn and Gosling feel like they would have similar sensibilities – Bronson and Valhalla Rising have a raw edginess that suits Gosling very well.
I’d also like to see this remake hew closer to the first novel. I hated the “domed city” in the film. The idea in the book that this death-at-21 thing was global was so much scarier; it also made the mystery of “Sanctuary” more compelling in my opinion. Hope they stick to the original characterization of Ballard as well.
I still wish they’d keep the allotted life spans of the citizens 21 years and not 30. I understand why the studio changed it, but I feel that this was one of the most poignant things about the novel: to have to die just as you are coming into full adulthood.
The original is one of the most dated films of all time ever, and probably was so within a few moments of its release, but a updated version could be cool.
Valhalla was boring, yes, but the Pusher trilogy and Bronson are all awesome movies.
Valhalla Rising is meant to be watched on drugs. Give it another shot the right way.
to say Valhalla Rising is meant to be watched on drugs is to short sell the film. Refn says he wanted to make a drug movie where the MOVIE was the drug, not to be watched ON drugs, which he claims to have never touched. those who whine about it being boring or whatever are clearly wired to enjoy a more mainstream product. it was partly inspired by Tarkovsky, as was LVT’s Antichrist. A bit of an overreach, perhaps, but 300 or Braveheart this clearly ain’t.
Oh, and Pusher is awesome.
While I agree the `76 film is horribly (or wonderfully) dated, the novel’s 60′s-era spin on the perils of the “generation gap” isn’t exactly timely. Once upon a time kids wanted to rebel against their parents; now they want to be their parents. Given recent efforts like The Island and Never Let Me Go I can’t but wonder what what will set this particular story apart in a crowded marketplace . Besides, you know, Ryan Gosling.
I disagree that the topic isn’t timely. Even people who are 20 years younger than I am (mid-40s) are scratching their heads at teenagers’ behaviour. The ‘generation gap’ gets broader in distance and closer in age with each generation. How long until people merely ten years junior to the ‘ruling class’ are completely inaccessible?
The WORLD, controlled by no one over the age of 21? THAT is timely AND utterly terrifying!
Great news.
This should be done as a sequel with Michael York returning as Logan and it should be a comedy. York was so funny in the Austin Powers movies. Why not play the concept for laughs and have him still running only this time he’s joined by Ed Helms who’s also on the run from the Sandmen.
I grew up in the 70s and remember the original movie (and the Marvel Comics adaptation) so excuse me if I don’t join the twentysomething “it sucks” fest on here.
Funny how the twentysomethings are always so quick say something sucks, but the shit they produce is just copied/sampled/remade from old stuff, and when they try to be original it flops *cough*Scott Pilgrim*cough*
And I’m sorry O hyper-literate ones, I didn’t read the book, so I’m cool with the domed city aspect, I thought that was whole point of the film. Shit I even remember the TV version with the young guy from Trapper John M.D.
All that said, there was a remake of Logan’s Run it was called The Island, now THAT sucked.
No more remakes. Make something new.
Definitely get out and read the book. In fact, if you read the short-lived Marvel Comics adaptation of what happened after the movie ends, you’ll remember they were trying to go beyond that as Logan gained access to the computers beneath Carousel and discovered that there were other domed cities.
One minor “spoiler” between the book and the movie was that there was no cataclysm that forced people to live in a domed city only to “discover” that the outside world was livable. If anything, having people die at 21 (in the book) had prevented the cataclysm of overpopulation. Besides, Domed Cities are sooo 1970s…
I’ve been a fan of “Logan’s Run” since before it was released (I saw an advance screening in San Diego). Not only is a great movie, but Richard Jordan, Farrah Fawcett, Roscoe Lee Browne, and Peter Ustinov have all passed away. It seems disrespectful to them and to the fans of the original to do a remake. If they want to make a “Logan’s” movie, how about adapting “Logan’s World”?
See, I’d advocate a new “Logan’s Run” if ONLY to see it turned into some franchise trilogy that adapts the two Nolan sequels.