Don’t adjust your computer monitor, the headline is correct. Edgar Wright, the director of Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, is set to direct one of Hollywood’s biggest stars in an upcoming remake of the ABC series The Night Stalker. Deadline reports that Johnny Depp will is looking to the play lead and he will work with Wright before a writer is even set.
Depp would play reporter Carl Kolchak in a redo of the series that aired in the mid-1970s, which focused on supernatural cases including a mix of zombies, vampires, werewolves and aliens. There aren’t many more details, but the film would likely settle into the family film Disney banner and aim for a PG-13 rating.
After a string of critical misses for Depp including The Tourist, The Rum Diary, not to mention his tired Tim Burton collaborations, this is a strong step in the right direction. With Wright’s kinetic style, he could own this genre.
The director also has Ant-Man and working on writing the next in his “blood and ice cream” trilogy, The World’s End, with Simon Pegg, so without a writer yet on this project, we likely won’t see it for a while. Nonetheless, it will be fantastic to see Wright get the exposure he deserves after the box-office bomb that was his last film.
What do you think about Depp about Edgar Wright teaming up?