It just ain’t The Fly if you don’t cry.
We learned last month that FOX has tapped Sleight director J.D. Dillard to helm yet another remake of The Fly, which he’s set to co-write with Alex Theurer. We don’t yet have any story details, nor has the deal been finalized, but Dillard did just spill some beans about what he’d like to do with the movie in an interview with Slash Film. Dillard told the site that he and Theurer want to put story and character at the forefront, noting that many remakes over the years have remade “the wrong pieces” of an earlier film when they should’ve focused on telling a great story.
Dillard explained of the movies he wants to make:
For me – and this would be about The Fly, but this is also about Alex and my approach to remakes because post-Sleight that has been the conversation for what a lot of big flashy studio gigs are – no matter what, we want to start with character. I think if you look at a lot of remakes, and the ones that may have not been as successful as others, I think often times the wrong pieces are remade. Having this conversation about bigger projects and IP, we really want to make sure we are following a beating heart first and foremost.
I want to be really gutted emotionally and feel something but also all the pieces from a blockbuster are there too. That’s the gap that I would love to find a way to close.
David Cronenberg’s The Fly may be known for its incredible effects, but it damn sure fit the bill of emotionally gutting the viewer. So it sounds like Dillard is perhaps the right man for the job.
More as we learn it.
