Sunday, May 1, 2011 at 11:29AM Robert Zemeckis to Direct 'Replay' Before He Takes 'Flight'
The now legendary director who brought us such iconic films like the Back to the Future trilogy, Best Picture winner Forest Gump and the animated hit The Polar Express currently has an interesting new film lined up as his next project. Vulture reports that Robert Zemeckis is now in serious talks with Warner Bros. to helm a movie called Replay, which is based on a 1987 best-selling novel by Ken Grimwood.
Replay is a story that centers on a radio journalist who dies in 1988 from a heart attack, and somehow re-awakens as his 18-year-old self in 1963 with all of his memories and experiences from his past life still in his mind. Each time he reaches the year 1988 he dies all over again, prompting him to try and make better choices to prevent his own death, while more importantly trying to prevent the death of his daughter.
Actor/Director/Writer Ben Affleck was reportedly in negotiations to direct Replay back in October, but opted to direct the Iranian hostage film Argo instead. Jason Smilovic (Lucky Number Slevin) will write the big screen adaptation of Grimwood's novel. If Zemeckis signs on to direct Replay, it will likley put his other project Flight, possibly starring Denzel Washington on hold for the time being.
Replay sounds fascinating, kind of like a Groundhog Day meets Source Code, only this story will stretch over the course of the protagonist's life. I'll be curious to see more updates on this film and what genre the studio plans to market it as.
Reader Comments (2)
That actually sounds like a really cool concept. Especially if you do the math... he was, what, 43 when he dies of a heart attack? Yikes.
If this means Zemeckis is returning to the art of live action film making, I am SO effing happy. I'm really getting tired of him making all these sub par motion capture flicks when he's done so many amazing things with live action.