Hercules, the mythical hunk that leaves muscles under carefully decorated trees each Christmas (I may be remembering this incorrectly), will be making a long, arduous journey back to the multiplexes very soon. Kevin Sorbo fans, hold your horses! Universal has ordered “a fresh take” on the son of Zeus. And they’ve got their eye on a guy that must have Red Bull in his veins instead of blood.
Variety reports that the studio has decided to put their trust in the tireless directing and producing muscles of Peter Berg. Not a bad idea since Berg has pretty much been serving up interesting cinema fare since Very Bad Things, his directorial debut. That movie is kind of hmmm, but The Rundown is an underrated action flick. And, frankly, so is The Kingdom. Berg is white hot right now because he helmed Hancock, a movie that managed to deflect critical stones, bullets, and anvils on its way to becoming a super summer smash. More than anything, Hancock‘s prowess has to be attributed to the amazing drawing powers of Will Smith. But it’s nice to see Berg benefiting directly. I say this as a huge Shocker fan.
The new Hercules movie is based on Steve Moore’s comic book Hercules: The Thracian Wars. The series reimagines the bulky legend, making him sick of life, papa Zeus, and the rest of the dumb ‘ol gods. Here’s a description of the comic from Amazon: “After twelve arduous labors and the loss of his family, this dark, world-weary soul turned his back on the gods, finding his only solace in bloody battle. Over the years he warmed to the company of six similar souls, their only bond being their love of fighting and the presence of death.” After a night of drinking mead and tearing through huge turkey legs, the team agrees to call themselves The Herculoids! The movie is supposed to hew very closely to the comic. If that’s the case, the roided-out crew of bloodthirsty sweatbulges will do battle with an insane king. Expect bunches of punches and thumps. It sounds like Moore has really come at the Hercules myth from a unique perspective, by the way. You can read more on his take, in his words, by clicking here. Bisexual, eh? Well, if it worked for Alexander…. Plus, I think he made out with Medusa once, so that’s really trisexual.
Berg, whose body produces some kind of anti-sleep agent, is currently set to direct the Dune redo. He also has a few TV projects going. What a freak, right? So, who knows when this movie will burst forth from his forehead all Athena-like.
Anyway, click here for a surprise treat.