Stephen Sommers to Direct Tarzan

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=48452

Source: Variety
September 3, 2008


Stephen Sommers is in negotiations to direct a big screen version of Tarzan for Warner Bros. and producer Jerry Weintraub, reports Variety.

Sommers will also co-write the Tarzan script with Stuart Beattie. Sommers directed the recently wrapped G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra for Paramount, with Beattie penning the final draft of the screenplay.

Warner Bros. and Weintraub have been developing Tarzan since 2003, when John August was hired to pen a new take on the Edgar Rice Burroughs-created character. Two years ago, the studio was negotiating with Guillermo del Toro to direct.

Burroughs' "Tarzan of the Apes" was written in 1912.

 

[Rac]

 

[dude stannis]

Stuart Beattie did Collateral and the Pirate movies right? If that's the case so long as Sommers hires a charismatic lead the film should be entertaining popcorn fodder.

 

[Batspider77]

Noooooo,i had so much expectations for Del Toros Version of Tarzan....he wanted to give us a Badass Killermaschine Tarzan but now we get another George of the Jungle.

 

[DOG LIPS]

No offense to Tarzan fans, but couldn't this have hit BEFORE he got his paws on G.I. Joe?

 

[littlepils]

got a long way to go to beat greystoke...

 

[green]

I would have preferred Del Toro.

 

[Movies205]

got a long way to go to beat greystoke...

Not really

 

[Jackasscoley15]

Why, god, why? It could have been anybody but Sommers, and I would have been content. ANYBODY.

 

[Johann Krauss]

...damn

 

[Steelsheen]

Why, god, why? It could have been anybody but Summers, and I would have been content. ANYBODY.

Uwe Boll?

 

[Raiden]

This movie doesn't look good already.

 

[Fanticon]

Stop bashing....Sommers was born to direct movies like this...I hope things start moving and that GI Joe doesn't tank at the BO because I'd really like to see this one get made.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

Uwe Boll?

Hey, at least Boll's would be hilarious. This one's just going to be plain bad.

 

[Sawyer]

Noooooo,i had so much expectations for Del Toros Version of Tarzan....he wanted to give us a Badass Killermaschine Tarzan but now we get another George of the Jungle.

I'd much rather see Del Toro's Frankenstein than Del Toro's Tarzan. I've never cared much for Tarzan, and the fact that Stephen Sommers is directing just means that this is something I will have to avoid like the plague.

 

[Metamorpho1977]

I'd rather see Mr. Burrough's story, John Carter on Mars as a film than Tarzan. I mean imagine a Civil War soldier mysteriously transported from the battlefield to the martian planet and having to survive and find a way back to earth. see, Martian Manhunter is just our payback on those rascally martians for abducting John Carter.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

Not a big fan of Tarzan but I'll still give my two cents:

This movie is going to blow.

 

[Octoberist]

Tarzan? Does anyone care? It's been done SOOOO many times already.

 

[Dr. Evil]

He'll cast either Brenden Fraser or Dwayne Johnson as Tarzan.

 

[Jackasscoley15]

He'll cast either Brenden Fraser or Dwayne Johnson as Tarzan.

...or Hugh Jackman.

 

[CrimsonMist]

Not really

agreed.

That could have been so much better.

Sommers is alright, but i really hope he doesn't turn this into a "wild thrill ride, action adventure extravaganza!!". It's been a LOOOONG time since i read Tarzan Of The Apes, but i know it's not a thrill ride. It's pretty deep, from what i remember.

 

[Sawyer]

...or Hugh Jackman.

Hey!!! At least Jackman's a helluva actor.

 

[rogue trooper]

...or Hugh Jackman.

....well, he did look very Tarzan-like at the end of Van Helsing.

Anyway, I'm a big fan of Burroughs' Tarzan books(and his John Carter of Mars books also), so I'm kinda' glad that another Tarzan attempt is being made. I can see Sommers probably doing a "Tarzan At The Earth's Core"-type of story, considering his films tend to be very fantastical. I hope G.I Joe will deliver, so that I can feel fully confident on Sommer's Tarzan take. Hopefully it will be more decent than The Jungle Book and Van Helsing. Hey, Paul W.S Anderson(AVP, Resident Evil) managed to make a not-too-shabby action ride with Death Race.