Last October it was announced that there were plans afoot to bring the 1930s pulp adventure hero, Doc Savage, back to the big screen. With AICN reporting at the time that Shane Black was attached to write the script.
However it looks like that’s not quite right, as Variety now says that while Black will be involved, he’ll be in the director’s chair, working from a script by Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry. It’s certainly good news for fans of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which was Black’s first stint behind the camera, as while that movie has plenty of fans, Shane hasn’t made another film since. Indeed, for a man who was one of the highest paid screenwriters of the 1980s, and was behind movies like Lethal Weapon and The Long Kiss Goodbye, Black hasn’t done an awful lot that’s made it to the screen either as a writer or director in recent years.
Doc Savage himself is a hero of pulp magazines of the 1930s and 40s, The character is a sort of mix between Indiana Jones and MacGyver, trained as a physician, surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer, researcher, with near super-human abilities due to the fact his father raised him since birth to be both preternaturally strong and incredibly smart. The new film won’t update the character, instead setting the story in Savge’s mid-20th Century heyday.
At the moment there’s no news on who will play the title role. Arnie was interested in bringing Doc Savage to the screen in the 90s, although I think it’s safe to say he’s out of the running for this version.