Baroness Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel – first released as a play but quickly published as a novel to considerable commercial success – has been remade, adapted and spoofed a great number of times throughout the years.
Though a precursor to fellow masked-men such as Zorro – the property’s fame has not endured in quite the same way. Nevertheless, new production banner Fairbanks Productions has announced plans for a £75 million retelling.
Following the thirteen sequels, two prequels, innumerable TV adaptations and Daffy Duck parody, Fairbank Productions will reboot the character with star Neil Jackson (Quantum of Solace), a number of “high profile cameos” and Eastern European locale. According to executive producer James Black:
“We want to try and do to the story of The Scarlet Pimpernel what Guy Ritchie did to Sherlock Holmes for Warner Bros.”
The production banner, the brainchild of one Dominick Fairbanks, is committed to nurturing new talent behind the camera and is backed by a “tapestry of high-network individuals”. Such talent looks set to include prosthetic make-up artist Shaune Harrison (Harry Potter) who will helm his own original screenplay, Kill the Dead.
