Ever since it hit it big back in 2010, Jacques Audiard’s stunning A Prophet has been a target of the remake brigade. But after a year or so in active development, it might finally have a director, with Sam Raimi circling the job.
Sony announced back in June of last year that it, along with Fast & Furious franchise producer Neal Moritz, had bagged the rights to remake the film. The deservedly acclaimed, Oscar-nominated original saw Tahar Rahim as Malik El Djebena, an illiterate French-Arab teen sent down for six years and initiated into the prison’s criminal underworld. A fast learner, he soon starts to plot his rapid rise through the violent and brutal inmate hierarchy to become a formidable player.
Crime writer and screenplay man Dennis Lehane has been at work on the script, but no details have emerged on how the American version might shift the story. Raimi is only in early talks for this one, and he's had a history of considering projects and then deciding against them. But he's always interesting when he tries his hand at different subjects, so while we're still not sure the movie needs to be remade at all, this could end up with something worth watching.
Raimi has most recently been involved with re-visiting The Evil Dead, this time as a TV series. His last big screen project was Oz The Great And Powerful.