Ok, we don’t want to sound the alarms or anything, but this THR report about reshoots on the Warner Bros. adaptation of the D.C. Comics property “Jonah Hex” are a little eyebrow raising.
Reshoots have been rumored for some time now, but THR confirms that 10 days of production are scheduled that will include some 12 new script pages.
Directed by Jimmy Hayward (“Horton Hears a Who!”), the project led a slightly difficult life and was originally to be helmed by the “Crank” directors Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor, but they were eventually let go (though the screenplay and story is still officially credited to them, but presumably still went through some major re-writes) because of differences with Josh Brolin (who once called their script “awful“).
The cast stars Brolin in the lead, John Malkovich, Megan Fox, Michael Fassbender and Will Arnett and they’ll all be assembled at the end of the month in Los Angeles for said reshoots.
Not auguring well for the Hayward — this is his first live-action film — “I Am Legend” director Francis Lawrence, was brought in last month to act as a “consultant.” You don’t need to be a Hollywood insider to figure out what that means and it’s reminiscent of when Richard Donner (“Superman” and the “Lethal Weapon” movies) was allegedly brought on the set of Gavin Hood’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” (While Fox spun it as Donner was only visiting the set to say hello, Hood had never directed an action film and well… you saw how ‘Wolverine’ turned out).
THR is reporting that some insiders say the reshoots are to fix problems, while others are claiming they’re to add additional bigger scenes so the film — which was originally set for an August release date — can go toe-to-toe in the middle of tentpole season (the date now is June 18, smack dab in the middle of the summer).
“Jonah Hex” was never the greatest D.C. character to begin with, or at least, not necessarily worthy of his own movie and this one has passed through too many hands so we’re skeptical (and reading the THR report, you should be too). Brolin himself seemed pretty reticent to take the role in the first place and it sounds like he should have stuck to his original instincts. It’s been reported that psych-metal rockers Mastodon are scoring the film, but if you read the fine print, it’s actually John Powell (“Jumper,” “Hancock,” “X-Men: The Last Stand”), who has been credited with writing the score and members of Mastodon are helping him out and playing on the score which makes us even less interested.
Oh yeah, Akiva Goldsman is producing and he’s famous for bringing us the critically acclaimed “Fantastic Four” films, plus “Hancock” and “Constantine.” Buyer beware.