Set for release on June 9th, Alex Kurtzman’s The Mummy will officially launch Universal’s new shared monsters universe, and reboots of other iconic properties such as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, The Invisible Man and Bride of Frankenstein are also headed our way as part of the Kurtzman and Chris Morgan-conceived universe.
We’re also getting a new take on Van Helsing, which will bring the badass monster-hunter to the big screen for the first time since Hugh Jackman played the character back in 2004. Needless to say, Universal is hoping to do better this time, and they’ve hired Oscar-nominated scribe Eric Heisserer (Arrival) and Jon Spaihts (Passengers) to tackle the script.
Speaking with Collider, Heisserer just revealed that the script will ground Van Helsing in some degree of reality, making him less a superhero and more a resourceful man:
Well I guess the biggest thing that’s already been said is it’s contemporary, it’s a modern-day reimagining… I can talk about my emotional state of what I’ve been passionate about or sometimes frustrated by are the number of films where we find an extraordinary character with superhuman abilities that becomes a hero to solve a problem that a normal person cannot solve. And I was eager to try and buck that trend and showcase someone who had no extraordinary powers, just resourcefulness and will and kind of a stubbornness who’s able to tackle some of these bigger problems. Because I don’t like the idea that we’re infusing our public and our pop culture with the idea that only super people can solve the world’s problems. I like the idea of the everyday hero stepping up to the plate and getting things fixed.
He also promised that the script will be scary:
I don’t know what it’s going to look like at the end of the process, so I’m gonna withhold on commenting on really where it lands. I can say that my intent stepping in was to make it as scary as possible, partly because I know how to do that, and also because when you’re the only human surrounded by a bunch of supernatural creatures, that’s gotta be absolutely unnerving.
Heisserer has a horror background, as he penned Final Destination 5 and Lights Out.
