‘Rocketman’ director Dexter Fletcher has been signed up by Paramount Pictures to take the helm on the feature remake of the classic story of ‘The Saint’.
The movie follows Simon Templar (a.k.a. The Saint), a Robin Hood-esque criminal and thief for hire. Seth Grahame-Smith penned the script on what the studio is hoping will be another long-running franchise of films. Lorenzo Di Bonaventura (“Transformers,” “G.I. Joe) is producing along with Brad Krevoy and the late Robert Evans, posthumously.
Plot details are being kept under wraps, though it’s believed to take place during the present day and is not a period piece.
Based on the 1920s novel series written by Leslie Charteris, the story inspired the 1960’s TV show which starred ex James Bond star Roger Moore in the title role. In 1997 the story was revived in feature form with Val Kilmer taking the lead.
Fletcher is coming off a successful run of awards nominations for his Elton John biopic ‘Rocketman’ which starred Taron Egerton as the flamboyant singer/songwriter. The director has also recently been set to tackle an adaptation of ‘Dracula’ story R.M. ‘Renfield’ for Universal Pictures‘. ‘Renfield’ is a fictional character that appears in Bram Stoker’s 1897 Gothic horror novel ‘Dracula’. He was an inmate at a lunatic asylum who was thought to be suffering from delusions which compel him to eat living creatures in the hope of obtaining their life-force for himself. It later turns out he is actually a servant of Dracula. Fletcher’s previous works include stepping in for Bryan Singer on ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and ‘Eddie The Eagle’.
