Doc Savage

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It's been all quiet on the Doc Savage front since quite some time. Now however, there seems to be some movement on the adaptation front, with a writer apparently boarding the project.

According to AintItCool, Shane Black - author of testosterone-fuelled classics like The Last Boy Scout and Lethal Weapon - will pen the screenplay about the multi-talented hero.

Plus, on the producing side, Transformers and Star Trek alumni Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman will take the reigns.

According to the scoop, the script will be set in the 1930s and feature Doc's 'Fabulous Five' fellow adventurers, while the plot "will be an original Doc Savage story that attempts to encapsulate the feeling of the whole collection of Lester Dent's work."

Black is apparently about to start work on the said script.

[neverending]

I was a huge Doc Savage fan in my teens. I really didn't care for the campy film adaptation they did. Something grittier with a dash of comedy might work today.

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Screenwriter Shane Black, who first made a name for himself with Lethal Weapon, has been hired by Columbia Pictures to direct Doc Savage, the Man of Bronze, based on the hero who appeared in pulp novels, films and comic books during the 1930s and 1940s.

Best known for scripting the Lethal Weapon series, Black's directorial debut was the fantastic Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Black is considered one of the pioneer screenwriters of the action genre, and was the highest paid screenwriter in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s. He broke onto the scene with Lethal Weapon, followed by The Monster Squad, The Last Boy Scout, Last Action Hero (re-write), and The Long Kiss Goodnight.

Black will direct from a screenplay he is writing with Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry. Presumably, they’ll still be setting the film in the 1930s rather than attempt to “modernize” the character, as tempting as that may be after the success of Sherlock Holmes. Black let it be known to AICN that he was looking to the definitive works of late author Lester Dent, who penned nearly 200 adventure novels using the character, and that his version would be a period piece. It was also revealed that Savage was to be joined in the film by the so-called Fabulous Five.

Neal Moritz will produce through his Sony-based Original Film.

"Doc Savage" was created by publisher Henry W. Ralston and editor John L. Nanovic at Street and Smith Publications, with additional material contributed by the series' main writer, Lester Dent.

"Doc Savage is an icon, a character with limitless possibilities," said Columbia co-president Matt Tolmach, "We have had a great experience working with Neal to bring another classic character of the era, the Green Hornet, to a new generation of fans, and we think he and Shane make the ideal team to bring Doc Savage back to the big screen."

The project has found a home at Columbia, where it'll be overseen by producer Neal Moritz. Columbia and Sony now have a new enthusiasm for pulp thanks to Seth Rogen shoving The Green Hornet into production, and there's no telling where this obsession might lead.

Ron Ely previously played Doc Savage in the 1975 Warner Bros. release, Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze.


About Doc Savage

Doc Savage was a physician, surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer, researcher and musician. Trained by a team of scientists assembled by his father from birth, Savage possesses great strength and endurance, a photographic memory, a mastery of the martial arts, and vast knowledge of the sciences. He is also a master of disguise and an excellent imitator of voices. Imagine Captain America, Indiana Jones and James Bond rolled into one.

[neverending]

Well, with the mention of the new Hornet movie, I lost all hope.