Ever since delivering Rise of the Planet of the Apes, a film that I feel was vastly overrated, director Rupert Wyatt has been seeing a substantial rise in fame. We’ve heard that he’s wanted for Star Trek 3, a choice that J.J. Abrams actually endorsed at the Blu-Ray release party for Star Trek Into Darkness the other night, and now Paramount Pictures has another film lined up for the director, a remake of The Gambler.
First up, the endorsement from J.J. When asked by HitFix what he thought of Wyatt taking over the series, Abrams had this to say:
“He’s incredibly talented and we’d be lucky to have someone as talented as Rupert. But there are things we’re focusing on right now before the director, which is just sort of the fundamentals of where the story is gonna go.”
Those are some kind words indeed and seeing as Abrams is still staying on board as producer for the series’ third outing, his opinion is going to factor heavily into which director is chosen.
As for The Gambler remake, the film has Mark Wahlber circling the lead and will follow the plot of the 1974 original, which was a crime drama that focused on a “a UCLA literature professor with a gambling problem who runs afoul of gangsters.” William Monahan, the man who penned The Departed, is behind the script.
Aside from all of that, we don’t know too much about what Paramount intends to do with the remake. Hopefully they have some good ideas though because right now the whole thing sounds rather bland and generic. It seems to me that it’s just another remake which no one really needs or wants. Who knows though? With Wyatt, Monahan and Wahlberg on board, maybe something good will come of it?
