Monday, June 21, 2010

Christoph Waltz to Team Up with Guillermo del Toro in 'Wizard of Oz' Remake? Van Helsing?

Christoph Waltz and Guillermo del Toro are two of the hottest names in entertainment today.

Are these two huge talents teaming up on a project? Totally believable! A Wizard of Oz remake Guillermo del Toro style starring Christoph Waltz? Sound believable? Hmmm. So then just what might that project be? Maybe we'll find out at this year's San Diego Comic Con, July 21-25.

Christoph Waltz portrays August Rosenbluth
in 'Water for Elephants'
Photo Credit: Bauer Griffin


Waltz in currently in Filmore filming Water for Elephants. He portrays a cruel circus animal trainer for The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. He then moves onto his role as Cardinal Richelieu in Paul Anderson's remake of The Three Musketeers which is currently in pre-production.

Multihyphenate Guillermo del Toro recently quit The Hobbit which is stuck in development hell indefinitely. According to internet sources he is rumoured to be attached to many projects including a remake of the Wizard of Oz, a very dark version.

The latest internet rumour, first reported by Pajiba.com, is that he will write and produce a Van Helsing project.

Universal Pictures is developing another Van Helsing movie. Van Helsing is a 2004 American action horror film about vigilante monster hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, written, produced, and directed by Stephen Sommers. The film stars Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale. The film opened on May 7, 2004.

The titular character was inspired by Abraham Van Helsing from Irish author Bram Stoker's novel Dracula. Distributed by Universal Pictures, the film includes a number of monsters such as Count Dracula and the Frankenstein's monster in a way similar to the multi-monster movies that Universal produced in the 1940s, such as Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man and House of Dracula.

Del Toro's project is not a remake. It’s simply based upon the same fictional vampire hunter character from Bram Stoker’s Dracula, a great character who was, by all accounts, given an unfair shake in Stephen Sommers’ awful 2004 Van Helsing movie.

The movie, which is being developed at del Toro productions, will be based on a forthcoming treatment written by Guillermo del Toro himself, which is being described as an “action horror story.”

Read Guillermo's official statement (below) from DelToroFilms.com

"Van Helsing (writing and producing) is still in talks and not quite certain. Even then, I would like to share my plans only at COMICON. I am taking it slowly and marking very, very carefully the calendar of projects that I will be involved as producer, writer, etc I will not announce the project I intend to direct until then . I am very happy to say that all the projects and partnerships being considered are both quite surprising and, I hope, powerful. Much as I want, I cannot say much more at this time but I anxiously await to share these with you. I will be shopping on the floor in San DIego for several days. See you there!!"

Don't expect to hear anything for certain about Guillermo's next project until the San Diego Comic Con, July 21-25.

Any collobaration between Guillermo del Toro and Christoph Waltz would be UberStellar! You heard it here first on Schmoozequeen.TV!

Christoph is "Feeling Blue" . . . until the news hits! Check out the video after the jump.

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