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Swashbuckling in .... Spaaaaaaaace

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (22)

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You folks ever heard of Captain Blood, a 1935 Errol Flynn swashbuckler? Me neither. I can’t say I watch a lot of 1930s swashbucklers. But just so you know: Warner Brothers is remaking Captain Blood, and the Spierig Brothers (Daybreakers, out in 2010) are attached to direct.

The original movie was about an enslaved English doctor and his comrades in chains, who escape and become pirates of the Robin Hood variety. Producer Bill Gerber realized, of course, that Pirates of the Caribbean already owns the swashbuckling pirates genre, so he did what any sane producer might.

He set the fucker in space.

Gerber said that despite the radical period and venue switch, the film will be fairly faithful to a plot in which the doctor, Peter Blood, joins up with a French pirate (played in the original by Basil Rathbone), only to clash with the buccaneer when the woman he loves (Olivia De Havilland) is captured by the pirate skipper.

“There are some things you don’t mess with, and that is as classic a movie storyline as you will ever find,” Gerber said.

Ha! You just don’t mess with a classic storyline! I mean, besides setting it in space, in the future. But everything else is exactly the same! What’s next? They should remake Star Wars and set it in a contemporary office environment. Genius!









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Comments

Or... they could remake Menace II Society but set it in an all girls English boarding school.

Posted by: TSF at August 3, 2009 7:10 PM

Call it "Girls in The Hoodies."

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at August 3, 2009 7:32 PM

Please, no more comments. It can't get any better.

Posted by: becks at August 3, 2009 7:44 PM

Aw, c'mon. Who wouldn't race to the theater to see something like...I dunno...Silence of the Lambs...in spaaaaaaace?

Posted by: Jerce at August 3, 2009 9:20 PM

Everyone knows that everything is better in space. I can see this being the start of a new trend:

Gone with the Wind... in Space
12 Angry Men... in Space
The Apartment... in Space
Blazing Saddles... in Space
Space... in Space

Why, the possibilities are endless

Posted by: CptCrckpot at August 3, 2009 9:32 PM

Black Sheep ... in Space (carnivorous mutant ovines)
Deep Blue Sea ... in Space.


For the record, I recall the original Captain Blood as a Saturday morning feature on TCM one day. As pirate films of the period go, it wasn't half bad.

Posted by: The Wanderer at August 3, 2009 9:55 PM

Why does Star Wars in a contemporary office setting sound like a bad idea? That sounds cooler than Henry Fonda picking blueberries.

Posted by: Optimus Rhyme at August 3, 2009 11:02 PM

Wasn't Star Wars the Hidden Fortress.....in Space?

Posted by: Inaras at August 4, 2009 12:21 AM

...ummm...how bout Deep Throat in space? Zero Gravity cum shots? Come on now...who wouldn't want to see that?

Posted by: Deistbrawler at August 4, 2009 2:54 AM

Errol Flynn swashed a mighty fine buckle in his day. 'Captain Blood' was not his best, but it was ok.
(Yes, I'm old. Suck it.)

"Zero Gravity cum shots?"

I'm not sure, Deist. Getting the jizz in her eye probably isn't as much fun if it's unintended....

10 Things I Hate About You - in space.
The Dark Knight - in space. (Actually, I'd watch that).
Armageddon - in space. (Oh, wait...)

Nah. 'In space' will never be the new 'In my pants'.

Posted by: Tarn at August 4, 2009 5:56 AM

Chariots of Fire . . . in a deep sea station.
Victory . . . on a train.
2001 . . . in a Prius.
Top Gun . . . with Darfur's Air Force.
Breaking Away . . . on the moon.
Australia . . . in New Jersey.

Posted by: Kballs at August 4, 2009 7:54 AM

PIGS IN SPACE: The Movie

Who doesn't want to see Muppets in space?

Captain Blood was OK, not great. Basil Rathbone was the best fencer in Hollywood and he was always cast as the baddie and had to loose.

Posted by: BWeaves at August 4, 2009 8:24 AM

I very much enjoyed "Captain Blood." Not the greatest piece of Flynn action (on-screen) of all time, but a simple, quality story. Is this the thing now? "Let's focus our Remaking Laser Beams on things old enough that most people will have no idea that they're remakes! We win both ways!"

In space or not, I'd rather watch the remake of "Captain Blood" than the remake of "Footloose."

Posted by: Jana Jerusalem at August 4, 2009 8:58 AM

I take back my comment about "Who doesn't want to see Muppets in Space?" I just watched the Lightsaber porno on the other thread with 6' 5" Christopher Lee dueling a Muppet. I no longer want to see Muppets in Space.

Posted by: BWeaves at August 4, 2009 9:00 AM

Random factoid: Captain Blood was Olivia de Havilland's first film and she was all of nineteen. Whenever they had to do a kissing scene he'd invariably always slip her the tongue and they'd have to do the whole thing over because a) Olivia de Havilland screamed "ew, tongue!" and b) the censors didn't like tongues in 1930's blockbusters. But she got him back, in the end bit when he's fighting Basil Rothbane, Rothbane gets up close and personal and just before Flynn guts him, old Basil slips him the tongue. It would have made it into the movie, but old Errol screamed "Ew, tongue!" like a nineteen-year-old girl.

Posted by: Ava at August 4, 2009 10:14 AM

Cube In Space is still embargoed though, right?

Posted by: trippdup at August 4, 2009 11:19 AM

I'm with Optimus and would actually go see Star Wars set in a contemporary office. Joseph Campbell works everywhere.
"Help me Obi-Wan copier machine, you're my only hope!"

I'm not saying it would be GOOD. I'm just saying I would see it.

Posted by: JenVegas at August 4, 2009 11:32 AM

I don't actually have a huge problem with the resetting. It's like having someone cover a tune--it's more interesting if it's someone from a different genre. It highlights different flavors you might not have noticed before. Now who does it, THAT's important.

As an even more relevant example, Big Trouble in Little China was written as a western, and look how fucking awesome it was reset in China Town.

Posted by: Eep at August 4, 2009 12:11 PM

@ Diest & Tarn:
For the record. The zero=gravity jizzle is *never* belongs
anywhere near the eyes. Under penile-ty of injury.

Posted by: Ms MoMo at August 4, 2009 12:34 PM

I've just invented a new parlour game.
I call it Reimagine.

It's played like Charades, but instead of pulling a single slip of paper with the name of a book or a movie on it, you pull two slips of paper.

One slip of paper has the name of a movie.
The other slip of paper has a setting -- Office, outer space, western, etc.

And two or more people have to act out a scene while the other team has to guess the name of the movie.

If the team guesses correctly, they all drink a shot.
If they don't guess correctly, they drink two shots.

Game gets better after two rounds.

Posted by: BWeaves at August 4, 2009 2:09 PM

Ms MoMo

You spelled my name wrong...

It's going in your eye...

Posted by: Deistbrawler at August 4, 2009 2:29 PM

I saw Captain Blood on TMC last month, this actually sounds like a good idea.

Posted by: Mebe at August 5, 2009 4:21 AM