Mel Gibson says WILD BUNCH Remake was A Bad Idea, At First

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A few weeks ago we reported that Mel Gibson would be writing and directing a remake of Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch.

The other day Gibson was at the premiere of his new film, Dragged Across Concrete. After the screening there was an interview with Gibson and some of his fellow cast members. During the interview some questions came up about the remake and Gibson spoke a bit about how the screenplay is coming along and what a bad idea he thought it was initially.

“I thought it was a bad idea at first. ‘Why make The Wild Bunch again? Who would do that?’ I thought about it and I thought about it some more, and then I thought of a way [into the story]. A way to tell the story. So I’ve been sitting in a room with a writer and it’s been a blast. So it started as a bad idea, but it’s heading toward something that could be special. It’s about last chances and guys with lives of accrued violence. … Those guys [in the original film]? They laugh a lot, but it isn’t funny.

“You write stuff and you never know, really, what’s going to happen with it. Some things take 10 years before anything happens at all; other things come together after nine weeks.”

It certainly sounds like Gibson wants to bring a more dramatic touch to The Wild Bunch, exploring the tormented psyche of men who’ve chosen to live lives of violence and the toll that takes on them. That alone could make this one worth checking out.

His current film, Dragged Across Concrete, doesn’t have a release date yet, but it’s expected in 2019. It was written and directed by S. Craig Zahler and co-stars Vince Vaughn.

What do you think? Are you excited to see what Gibson brings to The Wild Bunch, or does this fall into the category of being a needless remake of a classic film? Let us know in the comments below.

SOURCE: Deadline