Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? Sam Raimi knows. And so, as it happens, does The Shadow, that old pulpy 1930s crimefighter whom Raimi has just agreed to bring back to the big screen in what would appear to be the first serious contender for a post-Spider-Man project for the director.
Of course, The Shadow, a masked hero with the ability to hide in shadows and, it says here, cloud the minds of men, has featured on the big screen before in 1994, when Alec Baldwin played him in a muddled Russell Mulcahy movie that revealed yet one power for The Shadow: the ability to generate low box office.
Raimi will be hoping his version of the character, who originally started out on a radio show that featured a young (and thin) Orson Welles, can shed that particular power. At the moment, he’s only scheduled to produce the movie, along with Josh Donen and Michael Uslan, with Columbia Pictures procuring the rights for their Spider-Man director.
But don’t be surprised if Raimi commits to direct, with perhaps the only stumbling block being a superficial similarity to the Spider-Man movies – after all, they’re vaguely in the same genre.
Raimi had this to say about The Shadow: “I've been a passionate Shadow fan ever since I was a kid and have long dreamed of bringing this character to the screen.” So there you go. Given that Columbia have only just attached Siavash Farahani to write the screenplay, though, production could still be some time away, allowing Sam the Man to slip in a small single-camera two-hander once he finishes the behemoth that is next May’s Spider-Man 3. Hey, Sam, we still need a director for IRA Zombies…