Gus Van Sant Working On a Martial Arts Superhero Script

Gus Van Sant has been fairly quiet in the past few years, with his only directorial feature being Restless, which was pretty big flop. Recently though, with the hype building for Promised Land, it seems that Van Sant may again be as relevant as he once was. To follow up Promised Land, he has an interesting project in the works: a martial arts superhero film.

Movie Line reports the director is currently working on the script of a Stephen Chow (Kung Fu Hustle) inspired film. From what we know, the story focuses on a group of normal citizens who develop the skills to take on crime.

The story has an extremely specific location, Hollywood Boulevard and Gower, near the Pep Boys sign, which is where Van Sant says he got the inspiration for the film. He was standing next to a frail old woman holding an armful of bags, when he had the following thoughts.

“I thought, Oh my God, she’s going to get hit, and then I thought that maybe she has more going on than I think. Maybe I should give her more credit. Maybe she could kick my ass.”

So is this a film about the elderly martial arts experts of Los Angeles? Not quite, but it will be normal people who set out to clean up a small area of the city, meaning there probably won’t be a sinister super-villain setting out to destroy the world. But then again, it sounds like the story still could undergo drastic development.

Van Sant says the script is nowhere near ready for shooting, but he’s been creating some watercolor paintings of the characters on Hollywood Boulevard, that he hopes will inspire the eventual shoot. Writing, directing, and painting? Quite the renaissance man.

What do you think of Gus Van Sant taking on this genre? Are you interested in his martial arts superhero film? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.