All for one and one for all – The Three Musketeers are heading back to the big screen, and Paul W.S. Anderson is the man who’s going to take them there. And this time, they’ll be in retina-shredding 3D.
It’s been sixteen years since Alexandre Dumas’ enduring creations – the swashbuckling Porthos, Athos, and Aramis, and their headstrong young friend, Dogtanian, sorry, D’Artagnan – headlined their own film. Well, we say ‘graced’, but very few have fond memories of the risible Charlie Sheen/Kiefer Sutherland/Chris O’Donnell version.
Before that, we’ve had classic versions from the likes of Richard Lester, while Gene Kelly starred in a 1948 version. Most recently, the Musketeers showed up, played by Jeremy Irons, John Malkovich, Gerard Depardieu (with Gabriel Byrne as D’Artagnan), in Randall Wallace’s 1998 film, The Man In The Iron Mask.
Theirs is a tale ripe for the cinema, full of intrigue, romance, derring-do, tragedy and noble heroism. Of course, there will be some – mainly internet fanboys who regard everything he does with suspicion – who feel that Anderson may not be the man for the job, given his penchant for style over substance.
Yet that’s something that the English director seems to recognise himself, and so he’s brought in an old chum of his to adapt Dumas’ novel into a script, a name that should silence the doubters: Andrew Davies.
Yes, that Andrew Davies. The big-brained, critically-acclaimed writer who specialises in adaptations of classic literature, from Pride & Prejudice and Bleak House for t’telly, to, erm, Bridget Jones’s Diary for the big screen. Turns out that Davies taught Anderson at the University of Warwick, and they’ve stayed in touch ever since. So we can pretty much guarantee that Anderson’s **Three Musketeers **will have ace dialogue to go with the usual pretty visuals.
"We are definitely modernising The Three Musketeers without compromising the fun of shooting a period piece,” Anderson told The Hollywood Reporter. “But in our film, corsets and feathered hats don’t take center stage. Our version is rich in eye-popping action, romance and adventure.”
Well, that’s nice to know. We have a lot of time for Anderson here at Empire Towers – he made Event Horizon, and that’s good enough for us – so wish him well with this. He hopes to shoot the film in France and Germany, starting next year, with a 2011 release in mind. Presumably, he’ll move onto **The Three Musketeers **full-time after wrapping production on Resident Evil: Afterlife, which sees him return to the director’s chair on that zombie franchise. Filming on that starts at the end of the month.
So, readers – stoked about this? Waving your sword in anger? Would you prefer to see The Three Muskehounds get the silver screen makeover? Vent below.