IT is the film remake that’s proved even harder to kill off than its claymore-swinging immortal hero.
Now, after a decade of delays, the cameras are finally set to roll on the long-awaited update of the 1986 Scots cult classic Highlander.
Plans for a £50 million reboot of the film, which starred French actor Christopher Lambert as immortal 16th century clansman Connor MacLeod and Sean Connery as his Egyptian mentor, who battles fellow immortals down the ages, were first announced back in 2008.
But since then the project has been dogged by setbacks, undergoing numerous script rewrites and with three different directors walking away from the film before the cameras even began rolling.
Chad Stahelski, a former stunt co-ordinator who directed the Keanu Reeves action-fantasy hit John Wick, has now been hired to resurrect the project and is working on a revised script.
“We’re still in early development,” he said, adding: “I’ve been a huge fan of the original since I saw it in high school.”
It’s thought the remake will focus more on MacLeod’s life in 16th century Scotland, and like the original – which spawned four sequels – Stahelski plans to turn the story into a movie franchise.
“We could expand it over several projects.”
Stahelski assures fans that he aims to retain the spirit of the original, but there’s no word on whether it will actually be filmed in Scotland.
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