‘Death Wish’ Remake Finds a New Director

A few weeks ago, Joe Carnahan dropped out of the planned 'Death Wish' remake over creative differences with the studio and the hunt began for a new director to take his place. It looks like the search is over and fans of world cinema will surely find themselves interested in who they've selected: Gerardo Naranjo.

According to Variety, the filmmaker is currently in negotiations for the job.

Best known for his 2011 crime film 'Miss Bala,' Naranjo is a fascinating choice for a major studio film. Although not widely known in the United States, his previous work has racked up plenty of critical accolades and this could be his chance to break out in a big way at the box office. In addition to 'Death Wish,' Naranjo has been currently developing another project titled 'The Mountains Between Us' at Fox.

Based on the 1974 semi-classic starring Charles Bronson, 'Death Wish' is about a normal man who becomes unhinged, buys a gun and goes on a criminal killing spree after his family is the victim of a violent attack. It was followed by four increasingly ridiculous (and frequently entertaining) sequels.

The optimistic view on this is that Paramount is hiring Naranjo because he's an interesting talent and will bring a unique sensibility to the film. The pessimistic view is that they want a director who's new in Hollywood that they can boss around and make do their bidding (shades of the problems director Jose Padiha has faced on his 'RoboCop' remake). After all, if an established director like Carnahan had to ditch the project because the studio wanted to cast the totally-wrong-for-the-part Bruce Willis, what's going to happen with Naranjo?