Movies
Don Coscarelli Sees Potential for a ‘Bubba Ho-Tep’ TV Series and More ‘Phantasm’ Films
Don Coscarelli has been trying to get a follow-up to Bubba Ho-Tep off the ground for many years now, but one of the major hangups is that star Bruce Campbell just isn’t interested in reprising his role of Elvis/Sebastian Haff. Without Campbell’s involvement, it would seem such a project doesn’t have any legs to stand on, but Coscarelli still isn’t giving up hope.
In a chat with Syfy to promote his new memoir True Indie: Life and Death in Filmmaking (released today), Coscarelli floated the idea of a Bubba Ho-Tep TV series.
“There’s nothing that I can really report today,” Coscarelli told the site. “Bubba Ho-Tep, as detailed in the book, we had a lot of setbacks with regard to a lack of involvement with Bruce Campbell on the thing. He gave such a memorable performance, it was very hard to do something without him involved. Again, I think that that story would make for a great sequel or series. Same with John Dies at the End. You know, things that seem apparent to you and I, sometimes the powers-that-be in Hollywood just don’t get it.”
Coscarelli also touched upon the future of the Phantasm franchise in the same chat…
“I certainly think that more could be done with Phantasm if they can find the right situation for it,” he noted. “I backed off from being too involved creatively, because I’ve done so much in that world.”
For now, nothing seems to be happening on either front.
From director David Ayer (Suicide Squad, Fury), Heart of the Beast will hit theaters on September 25 from Paramount Pictures, and GQ shares first look images this week.
In the film, a former Army Special Forces soldier and his retired combat dog attempt to return to civilization after suffering a catastrophic accident deep in the Alaskan wilderness.
Brad Pitt stars in the survival thriller Heart of the Beast, with J.K. Simmons (Whiplash) and Anna Lambe (“True Detective: Night Country”) also starring.
Cameron Alexander wrote the screenplay for Heart of the Beast. Academy Award winner Mauro Fiore (Avatar, Spider-Man: No Way Home) serves as director of photography.
“I’ll just be really honest: it made me cry,” Ayer tells GQ of the script. “Reading the script, it’s like a tone poem, in a sense. It’s so sparse—just a guy, a dog, mountains, and the calamities and triumphs that unfold, but what’s fascinating about the script is they’re constantly rescuing each other. It’s not like a guy and his pet—they felt like co-equals in this story. Brad wanted to be No. 2 on the call sheet, and rightly so. There was just something profound in the script. It felt like a study in grief, in healing, and of the human heart. So I had to do it.”
Ayer promises, “Don’t worry, the dog lives.”
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