Will Smith, soon to be seen opposite his son Jaden in After Earth, is clearly not happy with just producing remakes in the shape of the new Annie but is set to now star in one in the shape of The Wild Bunch. Smith famously turned down the chance to star in Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained, the role eventually going to Jamie Foxx, and so wants to get back in the saddle after the disaster that was Wild Wild West. Smith would look to star and produce the film which at one point had Tony Scott attached to direct before his untimely death.
The Wild Bunch was directed by legendary director Sam Peckinpah back in 1969 and saw a group of aging outlaws trying to take one final job as the Wild West as they know it changes around them in 1913. It starred the likes of William Holden and Ernest Borgnine in a film that became famous for Peckinpah’s brutal use of slow motion, bullet riddled bodies. Smith’s version, which has seen drafts by both L.A. Confidential’s Brian Helgeland and Training Day’s David Ayer, will apparently be relocated to a modern day setting with a disgraced DEA agent putting a gang together in order to go after a Mexican drug cartel.
Peckinpah has been remade before in the shape of Straw Dogs but he is one of those iconic filmmakers that many would consider untouchable. Smith and studio Warner Bros. will now be looking for a writer and director to bring the project to fruition. Smith meanwhile has Winter’s Tale and con-man comedy Focus in the works.