Roger Corman is a little like R2D2 or Saul Goodman: take him out of the picture and a ton of stuff simply won’t end up happening.
He has been cited as a direct influence by the likes of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, plus he gave the first breaks for actors and directors such as Francis Ford Coppolla, Sandra Bullock, Martin Scorcese, Robert de Niro and Jack Nicholson. He made the original Little Shop of Horrors, the Citizen Kane of b-grade cinema (if you ask me). He also gave Sylvester Stallone his first big break in Death Race 2000, the epic petrolhead grindhouse flick that Paul W.S. Anderson remade quite nicely (again if you ask me).
Corman has never stopped working or, for that matter, loving what he does. Maybe that’s a lesson for all of us, since the legendary director is celebrating his 90th birthday. Yowza! I just feel 90 getting out of bed sometimes, so how he does it…
Well, the man is still proving he is The Man. Corman hasn’t directed anything since 1990, but he is producing like crazy and we can thank him for the utterly insane Sharktopus. But he is looking to top that with a return to his Death Race franchise with Death Race 2050! Yup, Frankenstein is back!… Presumably, as there are no real details about this sequel yet.
But here are a few stills…
Actually Corman did reveal a little about the movie in an interview with io9. He said he loved the Paul W.S. Anderson version, but 2050 is going back to the franchise’s black comedy roots – including points for killing pedestrians. Corman feels it is a good time for another commentary about the violent society we – or Americans, at least – live in.
He also said that the movie will have two strong female drivers, maybe one even as a lead. That said, the original also had two female drivers – Calamity Jane Kelly and Matilda the Hun – but this time it may be a bigger deal. Another update will be the depiction of new technologies such as drones and VR, so this may be terribly cheesy. But that’s what we expect from Corman. It will also likely be incredibly violent and star the thespian overlord of b-grade brilliance, Malcolm McDowell.
It should be noted that Corman didn’t direct Death Race 2000 and he isn’t directing Death Race 2050 either. But he’ll be the name we remember, because it’s Roger Corman, damnit.
But while we wait, here’s the original Death Race 2000:
Last Updated: April 6, 2016
