Written By: Ken HulseySource: Hollywood.com
Just when you thought that the "Logan's Run" remakes Life Clock had turned black, it has reverted to clear.
It looks like I need to become best friends with director Carl Erik Rinsch because he is about to remake two of my all-time favorite films, "Creature From The Black Lagoon", and now, "Logan's Run."
The remake of the 1976 sci fi epic, which starred Michael York, Richard Jordan and Jenny Agutter, has been in the planning stages at Warner Bros since way back in the mid 90s.
As a matter of fact, I was contacted by an potential director (who's name I can't divulge) in 2003 about his plans for the remake. That film maker was soon ousted, and Bryan Singer (X-Men) was then signed to the project, who in turn, himself, left to direct "Superman Returns".
Since that time, the film has been in a virtual holding pattern, with directors Robert Schwenke, Joseph Kosinski and James McTeigue all taking very brief rides on the "Carousel".
None of those film makers seemed to fit into Warner's plans for the film, so the long quest continued.
Now, the virtually unknown, Carl Erik Rinsch, has stepped in to take over. As I had mentioned in a prior article about his taking on "Creature From The Black Lagoon", Rinsch has made a name for himself as of late, directing commercials for RSA owners Ridley and Tony Scott, who strongly considered him for their "Alien" prequel film.
Rinsch cut his director's teeth in independent films such as, "The Quiz" (1994) and "Lovely Weather for Rain" (1996). "Creature" is scheduled to be his second project, the director will helm the Keanu Reeves samurai epic “47 Ronin” for Universal later this year, and now "Logan's Run" can be added to the list, once those are finished.
Earlier drafts of the "Logan's Run" script more resembled the George Johnson and William Nolan novels than the Michael Anderson film version. It is unknown at this time if Rinsch will continue along those lines or make a direct remake.
Logan's Run Plot:
In the distant future the survivors of the apocalypse live in a giant domed city where their every need is taken care of by overlord computer. People live in world of pleasure, but there is one catch. At the age of 30 (21 in Johnson and Nolan's novel) all citizens are required to report for a ritualistic murder ceremony known as "Carousel". The populace has been fooled into believing that this ceremony leads to reincarnation and a new life though its real purpose is population control. To insure that citizens don't "chicken out" on their way to Carousel there is a police force in place known as "Sandman" who terminate those who attempt to run.
Logan 5 is one of the elite Sandmen. During one of his routine terminations he retrieves an anch, a symbol for a mythical place called Sanctuary where runners can find refuge, off the body of a would be runner. Upon placing the item into the computers scanner he is instructed to undergo a process to alter his "Life Clock", a symbol of a persons age embedded in the palm, to the blinking red of a person on last day so that he may pose as a runner to infiltrate Sanctuary. During the process he learns that 1036 runners had managed to escape the city and that Carousel is a ruse.
Along with his companion, Jessica 6, Logan attempts to flee the domed city in search of Sanctuary.
With a new "Logans Run", "Planet of the Apes" and "Godzilla" films in the works, you would think that it is the early to mid 1970s all over again.
See Also: Universal Courting Carl Erik Rinsch To Direct "Creature From The Black Lagoon" / The Death Of An American Icon - Farrah Fawcett - 1947-2009 / Logan's Run (1976)(MGM)