Joe Carnahan Tweets A ‘Death Wish’

There’s been a Death Wish remake in the works for a little while now. Back in 2007 James Wan made Death Sentence, but that was touted as a remake of Brian Garfield’s original novel Death Wish, and not the Charles Bronson film from the seventies. A few years ago Sylvester Stallone tried to remake the Bronson film, but that never came to fruition. Recently it was rumored Joe Carnahan was circling the project, and he confirmed on his Twitter page he will be directing and writing the remake.

Here’s what Carnahan had to say:

“Guys. I’m doing ‘Death Wish.’ But this version is a re-imagining of the book and set in present day Los Angeles. The L.A. of ‘Collateral.’

“It’s on buses, cabs, metro trains. I want to show an unseen version of L.A. L.A. on foot. Prowling. Hunting. The vast emptiness of downtown.

“The only role I’m writing in ‘Death Wish’ which will mark the ONE time I’ve ever written exclusively for an actor, will be for @FrankGrillo.

“Guys, I said I was writing a role for@FrankGrillo. Nobody said anything about Frank playing the Kersey part. Relax folks. We have a plan.”

So there you have it, folks. Carnahan is indeed remaking Death Wish and he’s writing a role in it specifically for actor Frank Grillo. It appears Grillo (who has not been formally cast) will be playing a new character in the film, and not the lead role of Paul Kersey. I’m hoping Carnahan goes with Liam Neeson for Kersey. If he wants to cast against type, then I’d suggest Bradley Cooper, whom Neeson replaced in Carnahan’s The Grey. I think it’d be interesting to see Cooper get dark and violent in this film.

SOURCE: @carnojoe on Twitter