John Carpenter Set To Team With Nic Cage For the prison thriller, Scared Straight Source: The Hollywood Reporter
It’s been seven years – seven long years – since John Carpenter, one of the true greats of American cinema, last directed a movie. Well, it’s about bloody time that he got back behind the megaphone, and so it’s with delight that we can report that Carpenter is in final negotiations to direct Nicolas Cage in a thriller called Scared Straight.
Cage would star as a life prisoner who is forced into action when a riot breaks out in his prison, and a young inmate – sent to jail as part of the Scared Straight program which temporarily imprisons juvenile delinquents in order to put the willies right up ’em – is taken hostage.
Although there are no supernatural elements that we know of, this seems to be right up Carpenter’s street. The man has admitted that he’s been remaking Rio Bravo for years now (Assault On Precinct 13, The Fog, The Thing, Prince Of Darkness, and even the film which seemed like it may be his last, Ghosts Of Mars, all owe some debt to the Howard Hawks classic), and this seems like a nice little twist on your typical siege movie.
We’re also excited about the combo of Carpenter and Cage. Kurt Russell aside, Carpenter hasn’t worked with an A-list actor before, and it’ll be fascinating to see how he handles Cage and his penchant for quirks.
There’s no word yet on any other casting, but with an October start date planned for a project that has been knocking around for a couple of years now (Rob Cohen was once attached to direct; he’ll now merely executive produce), things will be moving pretty fast on a movie that we hope will see a return to form for Carpenter.
it's been thirteen years since carpenter's last great film, In The mouth of madness, a lovecraft inspired surreal masterpiece.
after that we got clunkers like (Village of the damned, vampires, ghosts of mars,Bleeaurgh!) Cigarette burns for masters of horror was a welcome return to form. Carpenter like romero is a true american great, both have unique visions. Cant wait for this, will be drinking my beers in the VIP area of the cinema. ... Read More
Whether you like Cage as an actor or not, he is indisputedly an A-Lister, which is something Carpenter hasn't had the chance to work with in a long time. So this is something to celebrate, and hopefully will mean he'll get a decent budget this time around. Perhaps he'll even find a role for Kurt Russell! That, and Dean Cundey back as his cinematographer, would make my year! ... Read More
Yep, about time John Carpenter was directing again. People forget that John Carpenter was working with low budgets on "Ghosts of Mars" and "Vampires" but made the films look three times more expensive! It's a shame Chris Carter didn't have the balls to hire John Carpenter for the recent X-Files movie ... Oh well I love the idea of John Carpenter and Nic Cage together. ... Read More
Where John Carpenter is concerned, what you see is what you get. Ghosts of Mars perhaps wasn't his best film - but it wasn't the absolute stinker that crtics say it was. ... Read More
You forget that Carpenter worked with Jeff Bridges on Starman and Sam Neill on In The Mouth Of Madness. They're not exactly unknowns. And we shouldn't forget the great Donald Pleasance. For what he's worth, Nic Cage is a cheesy B-Lister in my book.
PS. It's a shame that Carpenter can't find a great scriptwriter to team up with. ... Read More
