Is Quentin Tarantino taking over the planned reboot of The Shadow? While there’s absolutely no concrete information at the moment, that’s the rumour emanating from Pajiba, who say that the Inglourious Basterds director is currently attached to co-write and direct Fox’s new take on the adventures of Lamont Cranston.
While the report has understandably been met with a lot of scepticism, it may not actually be as unbelievable as many seem to think. After all, Tarantino has been making movies for quite a long time now, but has never attempted a proper studio project. It could be that he’s interested in facing that challenge, although it is true that if he didn’t do go Hollywood when his kudos was falling post-Jackie Brown, would he really want to now that he’s on a high following his Nazi hunting movie?
It’s also true that while Robert Rodriguez used try and avoid the studios as much as he could, in the last couple of years he’s been working with and for Fox, so perhaps he’s been telling his mate Tarantino they’re a studio you can trust to let you do your thing, without too much interference.
To be honest, I’d quite like to see a proper Tarantino directed studio movie, to see whether he can keep his distinctive stamp in a more expansive environment. To be honest, directing a Shadow film would probably help his standing in Tinsel Town, as despite being ridiculously famous, he still doesn’t have an easy time funding his more idiosyncratic projects. So if he can prove he can play ball, he may actually find it’s easier to make his other films. As yet though, it’s all still a rumour and don’t be shocked if it turns out not to be true.