It might have seemed odd when the guy who burst onto the scene with the foul-mouthed, Tarantino-esque Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels started making franchise movies — even one for Disney. But Guy Ritchie has managed to take a break from those biggies by making some smaller “for me” movies: The Gentlemen, Wrath of Man, and the forthcoming spy comedy Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre. But now he’s going back to the House of Mouse for another of their live-action remakes.
Ritchie’s name was previously on 2019’s Aladdin, with Will Smith as the wise-cracking blue genie. Now, as per Deadline, it will also be on their new take on Hercules, which will put a live-action spit-shine on the corporation’s 1997 take on the Greek legend. That film featured Tate Donovan as the voice of a more doubting, even scrawnier take on the muscle-bound taskmaster, whose main foe was a Hades voiced by no less than James Woods.
This might be a better fit for Ritchie than Aladdin, with plenty of chances for feats of strength and derring-do, as well as the occasional insults, maybe even funny names. (Ritchie previously threw characters named “Goosefat” and “Mischief John” into the world of King Arthur.)
The big screen has been bereft of Hercules for quite some time, the last major one being a more postmodern take starring Dwayne Johnson. In fact, there aren’t too many Hercules movies at all, besides the Italian ones with Steve Reeves and the truly bizarre one where Lou Ferrigno fights a guy in a bear suit. Then again, there was that long-running TV series featuring future Republican punching bag Kevin Sorbo, and its Ryan Gosling-starring spinoff. So maybe the big guy is due.
(Via Deadline)