Tony Gilroy to Rewrite New ‘Red Dawn’
Posted by Robin Ruinsky (robin@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 18, 2009
Latino Review has reported that screenwriter Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton) will rewrite MGM/UA’s Red Dawn remake. Gilroy has penned the new screenplay to replace one written by Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore.
Back in April, LatinoReview got a look at the Ellsworth/Passmore script and reported that the new villains of the piece were the Chinese. Considering how much money the US government has borrowed from China, that most of our manufactured goods comes from China, would there be any real advantage to the Chinese to invade us? There’s no information yet how Gilroy’s handling the story or who he’s chosen as the evil invaders.
I’m not a fan of the original 1984 Red Dawn written and directed by John Milius. Milius exploited the real life paranoia and fear that was the Cold War, but with its group of warrior teens shouting their “Wolverines!” battle cry the film always struck me as just plain silly.
The question is where does Gilroy go with the story? Does he go with the Chinese “threat” in the Ellsworth/Passmore version? Or will the Taliban somehow manage to invade the US bringing with them boatloads of burkas? Do the North Koreans led by Kim Jong-il, lob over their first nuclear warhead? Considering there’s a report they plan to aim a test missile at Hawaii that’s not so far fetched. But do they have the military muscle to invade?
Or could this threat be internal? Maybe the trick to making Red Dawn work is to forget about the Reds and take a look at the danger of a far right wing who wrap themselves all too tightly in red, white and blue. Whatever he does, I’m hoping that Gilroy found a more compelling premise than a Chinese invasion which really is pretty lame.
The new Red Dawn, directed by Dan Bradley is scheduled for a September 24, 2010 release.
Do you think Red Dawn should be remade?
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