Director Peter Berg Goes from 'Hancock' to 'Hercules'

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23Jul

Director Peter Berg Goes from 'Hancock' to 'Hercules'

Wednesday, July 23, 2008 at 2:07AM

Director Peter Berg, who most recently steered the ship for Hancock, will be calling the shots on a new version of Hercules. And seriously, I can't be the only one fence-riding over the fact that they're trying another goddamn Hercules movie, right?

Universal will distribute and Berg will "develop to direct" something called Hercules: The Thracian Wars, according to Variety. It's Hercules, all right, but with a new twist. Apparently, there's a new Hercules comic book series that debuted a couple months ago. Steve Moore wrote the series, which is being released through Radical Publishing, and Ryan Condal will base his film script on the comic.

Barry Levine of Radical says that it's not the swordplay that intrigued the studio and Berg. "What resonated for them was that this was character driven, about a character who’s more man than god, with conflicts and redemption." And I can buy that, I really can, it's just...man, Hercules movies are so bad. Name me a good one, and I'll mail you a delicious ice cream sandwich.

Hopefully this will be something different. I know aesthetically it will be something out of the ordinary for a gladiator epic; Peter Berg is a real student of Michael Mann, so some hand-held camera work coupled with slick gray visuals and atmospheric music should be the order of the day. How that fits a Hercules movie, I have no idea.

I actually believe Berg is a very polished mainstream director; he's like Michael Bay with a moral and artistic compass. Still...Hercules movies are so bad. This is the second consecutive reach for Berg as a director, in my opinion, especially when the raised stakes of Hancock delivered his most uneven movie since his debut ten years ago. I liked the human drama he was so good at directing in both Friday Night Lights and The Kingdom. Hancock was shaky and overloaded with effects, and I don't know that that gives me hope for Dune, the remake of the Frank Herbert classic, and I really don't see him as a natural fit for Hercules.

But I've been wrong before.

Colin Boyd |

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Reader Comments (1)

In my opinion, Hercules flicks are so bad they're great! There is just something so pristine and beautiful about em. I do have my doubts about any new versions being able to recapture the magic of the original 60s films however.. The Reeves movies are my number 1 guilty pleasures because they inspired me to pick up the weights so many moons ago.

By the Gods!!

Saturday, April 25, 2009 |

Dowd

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