Highlander will always be a special film to me. It’s one of the greatest stories ever told, a rollicking ride of action, romance and heads being chopped off like they were going out of style. There are a ton of elements at play in the original film, including Sean Connery’s legendary portrayal of Ramirez. Mentor, friend and brother to Connor MaCleod, his death early in the film left people heartbroken. And it looks like Tom Cruise is being courted for that role in the reboot.
With the Highlander reboot in some sort of limbo after the announcement of visual effects artist Cedric Nicolas-Troyan being appointed to direct the remake, comes new news that Summit Entertainment is looking to grab Tom Cruise for the role of Egyptian Spaniard swordmaster. Of course, there’s a big difference between approaching a star to appear in a film and actually getting him to commit. As a Cruise representative explained to Collider, the actor was “far from talks” for Highlander: “He is offered tons of projects.”
Still, at least Summit is aiming high, and landing Cruise would see casting and funding for such a film resolve very quickly. I don’t ever see it happening however, as Cruise is ridiculously busy these days. I’ve got some hope for the reboot, as Nicolas-Troyan previously described his love for the franchise when he was announced to direct:
“I have been working on my pitch for this since the summer, and when I got there I met the original producer and I just started geeking out and he loved it. The first movie came out when I was a teenager in France and it was one of my favorite films of those years. I loved the series also, they shot a lot of it in France, on the Seine River. My first reaction, like everybody else, was, really, do we need a remake? Then I read the script, and I thought about how Russell Mulcahy was this super visual video director who brought the pulse of the 80s to the film so well. I started thinking about taking those great characters and matching them with a modern, visceral take, and then I was in love with the idea and I just went for it. …
For me, it all comes down to that first movie, but there are great themes in the show. It’s the rare cross-genre concept that has elements of the Western, time travel, fantasy, action, contemporary. There are universal themes, but of course you need to provide the answers like the first film did. Who are these guys with swords? Why are they fighting each other? What is the prize and how are they drawn to each other? There is far more at work here I want to explore than the lightning that happens during the Quickening.”
To be fair though, there’ll never ever be a Highlander movie as bad as Highlander: The Source. That didn’t just lower the benchmark for the series. It dragged it into the back of an alley, shot it in the head and then proceeded to drive a hundred kilometres out of town in order to bury it in a shallow grave. So hopefully the reboot is never ever that bad.
Last Updated: November 20, 2014
