If you didn’t know that the legendary Johnny Cash dabbled in acting while he was still alive, it’s okay — I wasn’t aware, either. All blatant ignorance aside, Deadline reports that Dutch filmmaker Jan de Bont will direct a remake of Cash‘s 1961 film Five Minutes to Live.
Both the original and this remake are based on a story by Palmer Thompson; the new film, written by Raul Inglis (Transparency), centers on “two men as they execute a terrifying bank robbery. One guys holds the bank manager’s wife hostage and the other tells the manager she’ll be killed in five minutes unless he transfers money to an account of their choosing.” The Cash-starrer was also director Bill Karn‘s final film. No one has yet been found to replace the beloved musician, but casting will soon begin, under financiers Nasser Entertainment and Nasser Group North.
After starting off his directing career on a good note with Speed back in 1994, it’s now been nearly ten years since we’ve seen Bont direct anything. His last project was 2003’s Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, which we can thank for flooding millions of tween boys’ imaginations with images of Angelina Jolie in that skin-tight silver jumpsuit. Bont did the cinematography for Die Hard and also directed the 1999 remake of The Haunting, Twister, and the disappointing Speed 2. Basically, we’re all hoping this brings back memories of his first film, and nothing that came afterward.
Have you seen the original Five Minutes? If so, are you interested in a remake from Bont?