Steven Zaillian is having a very good year. One of the best screenwriters working today, Zaillian is responsible for films ranging from Schindler’s List to Gangs of New York. This year, two of Zaillian’s films are turning lots of heads: Moneyball and David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Steve is currently in New York for the Dragon Tattoo press junket and he got the chance to sit down for an exclusive interview with the prolific scribe. While we’ll have the full interview up soon, we wanted to share a piece of news that the writer dropped. In addition to writing, Zaillian has also gotten in the director's chair a few times (most recently with 2006’s All the King’s Men), and during the course of the interview Zaillian revealed that he’s hoping to direct an American remake of Timecrimes.
The original Spanish film was written and directed by Nacho Vigalondo. Released in 2007, the sci-fi pic centers on a man who relives half an hour of his life three times. Zaillain said that he owns the rights and he's hoping to write and direct an English-language remake. Hit the jump to see what he had to say, including how his version would differ from Vigalondo’s film.
When asked if he had plans to return to the director’s chair, Zaillian responded affirmatively:
“I also have been talking about the possibilities of directing this little film called Timecrimes, which is a movie that we are going to transplant to the United States… I think that would be a lot of fun and I would like to do it fast and cheap because I think that it is one of the few movies because of the way it was conceived you can do that and not sacrifice anything. It is four characters, two locations, and it all takes place in real time in about an hour and a half. That would be a lot of fun for me – to try and do something really fast.”
In this budget-conscious world, it's most certainly smart to do the film on a smaller budget without having to sacrifice the movie's integrity. He affirmed that he owns the rights to the remake, so the ball’s in his court. When asked if his version would stray much from the original, Zaillian said he plans on moving the action to the United States, but retaining the main idea:
“I think it will be similar. The brilliance of that story is in the idea. The basic idea is that a guy relives half an hour of his life three times. It is such a big idea and a great idea that I’m not going to change that. The setting will change. I will write with Tim Sexton, who wrote the initial script. It will change, but in terms of the big picture and big idea it is going to be the same.”
While I’ve yet to see Vigalondo’s Timecrimes, I’ve heard nothing but great things. Zaillian is an undeniably talented individual, and I like the idea of keeping the budget small and letting the story take center stage. Hopefully things move forward and we’ll hear more news about the remake soon.
Keep an eye on the site, as we’ll have Steve’s full interview with Zaillian up in the next few days. Here's the trailer and poster for Vigalondo's Timecrimes.
