When someone brings up Walter Hill, immediately images of Alien, Brewster’s Millions and The Warriors fill my cranium. The filmmaker has an incredibly impressive body of work and action icon Sylvester Stallone seems to think so as well, so much so that he’s taking meetings with the aging auteur about his new film Headshot, which he hopes Hill will helm. “I completely respect Walter’s incredible body of work and hopefully this legendary director will become attached to the project,” said Stallone, who hopes to shoot this new film over the summer.
For those unaware, Headshot is based on a graphic novel by Alexis Nolent which focuses on a hitman and a cop who team up after their respective partners are killed to hunt down their mutual enemy. Oscar nominee Alessandro Camon (The Messenger) adapted the comics into a script that’s not as dark and violent as the film that previously-set director Wayne Kramer (Running Scared) was going to make and thus, after “creative differences” with Stallone, the filmmaker decided to leave the project.
Now, the intended dark comedy could gain the expertise of Hill, who has made films with that tone including 48 Hours and its sequel. It’s a logical but no less inspired choice, given the depths of the criminal underworld that Hill has explored in the past. It’ll also be nice to see a new Walter Hill picture, as the last one we’ve seen was 2002’s under-performing Undisputed. Hopefully he’ll sign up soon so the film can release in 2012 as originally intended.
Source: Deadline
