I’ve said it before: I have no problem with remakes. Despite what some would have you believe, they’re not a new phenomenon. Hollywood has been doing remakes for almost as long as there has been a Hollywood. Hell, some of the most believed movies of our times are remakes. But despite all of this, there are people who still have a hugely negative response whenever they term “remake” being mentioned. Well, luckily for these people, they now have one less title to trigger them.
It appears that contrary to previous reports, the upcoming Flatliners is actually not a remake of the 1990 film, but rather a nearly three decades later sequel. This was confirmed by Kiefer Sutherland, who starred in the original film and is set to appear in this new one as well. He spoke to Metro.co.uk about his role in the new movie:
‘I play a professor at the medical university. It is never stated but it will probably be very clearly understood that I’m the same character I was in the original Flatliners but that I have changed my name and I’ve done some things to move on from the experiments that we were doing in the original film.’
That original film was directed by Joel Schumacher and saw Sutherland starring alongside some of the hottest young talent of the time in the form of Kevin Bacon, William Baldwin, Julia Roberts and Oliver Platt. In the movie they played medical students conducting secrete experiments to find out what lies beyond death by inducing near-death experiences in each other, leaving them with some disturbing “dead” memories.
While none of the other folks involved in the original will be appearing in this new film, Sutherland revealed that he was quick to come on board.
‘I loved making the first film and when I was asked if I would be interested in taking part in this, it didn’t take more than a minute to say yes.’
This new sequel, as we now know it is, will be directed by Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’s Niels Arden Oplev and stars James Norton, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev, Ellen Page and Kiersey Clemons. It is scheduled for release next year on August 18.
Last Updated: August 1, 2016