Tarzan is getting another makeover. The action-adventure icon will trash his loincloth and throw on a pair of khakis for the next big screen take on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ classic character, who first appeared way back in the Stone Age — er, 1912. Director Stephen Sommers (The Mummy) and screenwriter Stuart Beattie (Australia) are ditching the boy-raised-by-apes origin story for a 1930’s-set romp with a hefty helping of romance: Think Pirates of the Caribbean with buffed-and-tanned actors flying through the jungle and sprinting up trees, parkour-style. In recent years, the lord of the jungle has been reincarnated as a Broadway headliner, an animated Disney hero, and even a prime-time TV star — in 2003 the WB produced a modern-day take starring Calvin Klein model (and first-time actor) Travis Fimmel that flopped. This version seems like a safer bet, especially considering Beattie penned one of the earliest drafts of Pirates, which became a worldwide blockbuster.
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Comments (1-25) of 25 Add your comment
Broadway HEADLINER, not HADliner.
Stephen Sommers – Run screaming!! If you ditch the backstory how exactly is it still Tarzan?
Tarzan is all about the backstory, you just can’t revamp it any way for the same results. Besides nearly everyone knows the story. Disney almost had it right, if you ignore Rosie and the songs in it. Why? Why? Just throwing money away. This is why I hate Hollywood so much.
Tarzan in khankis??? No raised by apes story??? Sounds like the Godzilla revamp they tried.
That’s the stupidest idea I’ve ever heard. Next thing you know, they’ll be casting Zac Efron in the lead.
okay i’m willing to give some latitude here. the whole ‘raised by apes’ is rather far fetched. so sure lets drop that and say that young John was the child of a couple of Jane Goodall types and was raised among apes. still have something happen to the parents and he spends some time alone a la castaway.
i’m okay with dropping the loincloth for real pants or shorts. jumping around the jungle, the boy diaper is probably not the most practical and safest thing anyway.
short version, I”ll hold judgement until I see the end result. then heckle if it truly sucks
Tarzan exudes manliness and let’s hope they cast it that way
I think this is a huge mistake. Just the preliminary description above tells me that they don’t understand the character or what it is that made the stories so appealing. I’ve seen a lot of recent attempts that try to cash in on a character’s brand recognition that have nothing to do with the original character. The Sci-Fi channel’s attempts to re-introduce Flash Gordon is another good example of this.
“[D]itching the boy-raised-by-apes origin story”? Then it’s not Tarzan anymore! Go ahead and do your 30s action-romance whatzis, but *call it something else*, don’t just paste on a classic character name.
What’s next, a John Carter of Mars movie where Carter is actually a streetwise modern Philly boy instead of a 19th century Virginia farmer? *headdesk*
Perhaps they’re not really ‘ditching the back story’ – hopefully, it’s more that they’re assuming that everyone knows the back-story, and are continuing on with the rest of ERB’s Tarzan tales. After Tarzan was introduced to polite society, and wore khaki’s, smoked cigarettes – with the primal beast hidden beneath that linen shirt.
Am hoping. I hated the 2003 WB tv series.
Come to ERBList.com and join the Discussion Forum there.
I do agree with the rest of theses guys….Tarzan is a super hero without out the super powers and gadgets. He just happend to have the genetics to bwcomw super strong and adgile ; hight IQ. PLEASE don’t change who he is!? I have waited all my life anf exspecially the last 7 or 8 yrs for a real movie about my life time hero. Now with the modern ability to make a Tarzan a reality..
stronger than the apes who raised him,
able to race throught the tress like a squriel and with emmence ferosity in fighting. But later able to mix with civilized people undetected. And he was called a giant; not because he was (being about 6′ 3″…235 lbs) but because he has huge muscles… Gordon scott was the perfect size !!!and very handsome…creted this Tarzan on screne and I believe it will be a BIG success at the box office…PLEASE!!!
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if you drop the feral child approach, then it’s not tarzan. Period.
But I have been hoping for a real adaptation with the right approach… so far this dosent sound like it.
past attempts have included Greystoke: violent, bloody, swapped gorillas for peeps in chimp costumes and played him more brute than bridge between worlds.
the show, I surpassed altogether. the casper van dien version “nuff said there” and the animated disney romp follwed by an animated tv show
astonishingly disney seemed to understand the character best… other than obvious disneyfication of various aspects it was remarkably the truest to the essence, honor, and mystery of the title character.
Of course disneys live action jungle book was strangely the best tarzan story Ever. lol
parkour style, sounds like an obvious and realistic choice (take it from someone who used to regularly run through the woods with deer and the like throughout their childhood)
khakis… ummm ooookay… where from? why do they fit? and in true nature form… why not just naked? I mean the loincloth beomes practical to avoid saggy bits catching on limbs… but till those bits actually start sagging… naked makes sense… and lets face it… rainforest, less clothing the better.
all in all the niche is a great appeal for every aspect from the action down to the psychologic and philosophic curiosities… its the ultimate exploration of the forbidden experiment, wherin man is proved a noble and honorable creature rather than the primal monster many would claim…
I would say, lets grab hugh jackman for an older exploration of the character, years after he has left the jungle and then returned, with jane etc… then do the full on action hero in true style to the later tarzan novels… after the sucess of two or three of these, jump to the super involved realistic and question answering prequels with a fresh actor.