Roland Emmerich’s Stargate is a film that I have a completely biased and illogical opinion of. I know very well that the film has some serious flaws, but I love that “banni wei” movie so damn much. This is a view that’s shared by so many fans around the world, and when something is as popular and revered as that, there’s of course only one thing to do: Reboot it! Isn’t that right, Mr Emmerich?
Emmerich has indicated for years that he doesn’t consider the arguably even more popular Stargate SG1 TV series spin-off as official canon, and has wanted to do a sequel to his $200 million blockbuster hit, which starred David Spader as egyptologist Daniel Jackson – whose mocked theories that aliens built the pyramids are proved true when a “stargate” is found that can transport you to a faraway planet – and Kurt Russell as the gruff Col. Jack O’Neill – who is in charge of the military unit that is sent with Jackson to investigate what’s on the other side of the wormhole. The problem with making a sequel to is the 1994 original is apparently that those guys are getting a bit long in the tooth now already, as Emmerich explained to Digital Spy.
“I originally wanted to make it a trilogy. Now, after all this time, I couldn’t do a trilogy anymore. Because the actors look totally different. That would not work.”
Now personally, I really don’t see the logistical problem of ignoring the TV series and just picking up the story 20 years later. Daniel Jackson could have been living on the alien planet for the last two decades, raising a family, while O’Neill could have either moved up the ranks or retired by now, until something happens that requires them to join forces again. Give me an hour in front of the keyboard, and I’m pretty sure I could come up with an easy enough reason to pull it off.
That’s not what Emmerich has in mind though:
“We went to MGM, who has the rights, and we proposed to do a sequel, but as a reboot. We want to reboot it as a movie, and then do three parts. And that’s what we’re doing right now. Pretty soon, we are going to have to look for a writer and star.”
Now the concept of “more Stargate” will always be welcome in my world (especially since SyFy left a void in my life when it cancelled the last Stargate TV series, Stargate Universe, a couple of years ago) and the idea of a trilogy set in that world certainly gets my attention, but Emmerich is a different filmmaker now than he was back in 1994. There’s a Saturday matinee styled charm to Stargate that has been completely replaced in Emmerich’s later works by ever bigger explosions. I sincerely hope that he can recapture that feeling again.
Speaking to finding that old magic, pre-production on Emmerich’s proposed sequel to Independence Day has been going for a while now, but Emmerich has previously indicated that Will Smith, who gave his career a gigantic kickstart when he starred in the huge 1996 hit, wouldn’t be returning as he was too expensive now. But it seems that something may just have changed.
“I sometimes say no, Will Smith will not be in it because he didn’t want to do it at first. Now we have a meeting planned, we want to talk about it again. Anything can happen.”
After the not quite stellar box office performance and critical trouncing of After Earth, could Smith suddenly be looking to buff up his resume with a sequel to the film that first turned him into the biggest movie star on the planet? I wouldn’t be surprised though if all of a sudden news broke that [INSERT SMITH CHILD STAR’S NAME HERE] was suddenly fighting aliens with explosive hardons for US landmarks.
Here’s the full video interview with Emmerich from Digital Spy.
Last Updated: September 9, 2013
