After their attempt at non-explosions filmmaking earlier this summer with "People Like Us" fizzled out, it looks like "Transformers" and "Star Trek" franchise writers/producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are going back to their bread and butter. Only this time, it's in the shape of Hollywood's latest faovrite trend — take very old (and more importantly, likely copyright free) fairy tales and popular stories, and goosing them up for modern audiences. And the latest to get the treatment is Washington Irving's "The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow."
The duo are currently pitching "Sleepy Hollow," a reworking of the story of Ichabod Crane that will take place in a contemporary setting, partner him up with female sheriff, and the pair will solve the supernatural mysteries of a town in the midst of a battle between good and evil. This sounds predictably pretty terrible, and if you're going to remake "Sleepy Hollow" but then remove the period setting it's known for, it seems entirely pointless to us. But we're not producers making millions of dollars, are we? Anyway, Kurtzman and Orci and teaming with Phillip Iscove to write the script, with the thoroughly uninspired choice of Len Wiseman to direct. He previously paired with Orci and Kurtzman on the pilot for "Hawaii Five-O" which is basically all that needs to be said. And though he's had genre experience thanks to the "Underworld" series, "Live Free Or Die Hard" and the forthcoming "Total Recall," he hasn't really established himself as action or visual director of any distinction. Which is something we think this kind of series would need.
Thanks to "Grimm" and "Once Upon A Time," there is no doubt that Fox, CBS, ABC and NBC — who will all be receiving the pitch — will be very interested to see the concept. But for this writer, Tim Burton's kind of underrated "Sleepy Hollow" is all the Ichabod Crane I'll need. [Deadline]