Unknown‘s director Jaume Collet-Serra locked to direct Red Circle, a remake of the 1970 Alain Delon crime thriller Le cercle rouge. Johnnie To was previously set up to direct the same.
The thriller ‘Unknown,' starring Liam Neeson, opens this weekend, gets its international premiere in Berlin today and Deadline reported that the film's director Jaume Collet-Serra was making a deal to direct Red Circle remake. Based on the 1970 Jean-Pierre Melville-directed ‘Le Cercle Rouge,' the script for the remake is being written by Steven Knight (Eastern Promises).
Collet-Serra is also at the center of a Warner Bros deal for Harker, a possible franchise he will direct that relates to vampire hunter Jonathan Harker character from Bram Stoker's ‘Dracula,' produced by Leonardo DiCaprio among others.
The original synopsis follows pickpocket Corey (Alain Delon)just out of jail. In the place of faithful freedom, he finds his steps leading back to the world of crime, crossing paths with a notorious runaway (Gian Maria Volonté) and an alcoholic ex-cop (Yves Montand). Doubtfully, trio plots a robbery against impossible odds, their track is pursued by a cruel inspector (André Bourvil), and fate begins to fasten their destinies.
Jean-Pierre Melville's ‘Le Cercle,' named from Buddhist tradition, mixed honorable anti-heroes, coolly cinematography, and breathtaking set pieces to create a masterpiece of crime movies.
The director's stock is up for the reason that ‘Unknown' ($30 million range), like Liam Neeson's Taken, was shot outside the U.S. and is geared to make money overseas in addition to its domestic earns. The heist movie ‘Red Circle' has the potential, as it will be set in Hong Kong.
When Collet-Serra comes back from Berlin, he will go right to work on The River, the ABC series thriller pilot hatched by ‘Paranormal Activity's' Oren Peli. No doubt, ever busy young Spanish cineaste.
