It's now twenty years since Harrison Ford set off in pursuit of a one-armed man in The Fugitive. In recent years we haven't seen much of its director, Andrew Davis, but on the publicity circuit for a Fugitive anniversary Blu-ray he's revealed that he does have a new project in the works. He's putting together Thieves Fortune, which will update Robert Louis Stevenson's classic Treasure Island to post-Katrina New Orleans.
There's no Cap'n Flint in Davis' version: the treasure in this case was looted by Jean Lafitte, the real-life French privateer who ran a pirate colony on Galveston Island in the early 1800s. He also supported General Andrew Jackson against the British in the Battle of New Orleans, and spied for the Spanish during the Mexican War of Independence. "I think it could be a really interesting, fun movie that could be about something and still be very entertaining," Davis says.
Along with** The Fugitive** Davis is best known for his action movies: he made Nico and Under Siege with Steven Seagal, Code Of Silence wth Chuck Norris, and Collateral Damage with Arnold Schwarzenegger. In recent years he's stepped back from the more violent projects, however, directing kids movie Holes (from the brilliant Louis Sachar novel) and Kevin Costner coastguard drama The Guardian.
“I’ve turned down a lot of violent action movies which I don’t want to do,” says Davis. “I don’t want to make a film where violence is the entertainment. I had a great time with Holes. I’m interested in doing family movies or movies that are based upon quality literature or books.”
Davis is currently working on the Thieves Fortune screenplay with George Gallo (Midnight Run) and unspecified others. Cary Brokaw (Drugstore Cowboy, The Player, Short Cuts) is on board as a producer, but there's no cast or studio attached yet.