We reported back in May of this year that Universal’s upcoming remake of the classic monster movie, Creature from the Black Lagoon, was sans a director. At one point Sahara director, Breck Eisner, was rumored to be attached to the remake, but we learned thereafter that wasn’t the case.
So the project has been without someone in the director’s chair for months… until now: Variety is reporting that Carl Rinsch is in early talks with Universal to helm its remake of Creature from the Black Lagoon. Does his name ring any sort of bell with you? A little? Well, that’s because Rinsch was once rumored to be directing the upcoming Alien prequel before Ridley Scott was convinced to helm it himself.
Rinsch was originally a commercial film director (you can check out some of his visually impressive commercials HERE), and if he gets this Black Lagoon gig it would mark the second big collaboration with Universal after 47 Ronin (not to be confused with the adaptation of the Frank Millar graphic novel, Ronin), which Rinsch will make his feature film directing debut with.
In case you’re not familiar with the original, here’s the synopsis for Black Lagoon:
A scientific expedition searching for fossils along the Amazon River discover a prehistoric Gill-Man in the legendary Black Lagoon. The explorers capture the mysterious creature, but it breaks free. The Gill-Man returns to kidnap the lovely Kay, fiancée of one of the expedition, with whom it has fallen in love.
Word is that Universal has been very keen to reprise Black Lagoon, in order to bring the classic film to a brand new audience who probably aren’t familiar with the original. Of all the remakes in the works (there’s A LOT of them), this is one I actually wouldn’t mind. It doesn’t really feel like they’re doing it “just for the sake of remaking it” a with most remakes (Gary Ross, son of the original version’s writer, Arthur A. Ross, is producing). The creature will definitely benefit from our updated technology and will be interesting to view in a modern context. Having said that, as Screen Rant writer Paul Young said earlier this year, I don’t want to see a completely CGI monster – good makeup effects all the way on this one! 🙂
As for Rinsch, it’s hard to say whether or not he’ll do a good job with Black Lagoon, when we’ve yet to see his first feature film, 47 Ronin. However, looking at his commercial work he certainly has a flair for visuals, and I imagine (or at least HOPE) that’ll be something carefully worked out and executed in this remake.
There’s no word on when Creature from the Black Lagoon will start shooting or hit theaters. We’ll keep you updated on that front.
