Paul W. S. Anderson No Longer Interested in Spy Hunter?

August 18, 2008
Source: Latino Review
by Kevin Powers

Paul W.S. Anderson has his bloody car battle, Death Race, bowing this weekend, which I can't wait to check out. But what about the other car vehicle that Anderson has been tied to since May? If you recall, the Resident Evil director was signed to helm the long-in-negotiation adaptation of the very popular Midway game, Spy Hunter, which centers on a morphing supercar called the Interceptor. As it turns out, Death Race might have killed his drive to direct any other auto-centric film. As he told Latino Review, "I firmly believe [Death Race] is the best, most spectacular car action I've ever seen in a film… I don't know if I'll ever do another car movie after this." For a project that's been juggled since 2003, I think a Spy Hunter movie is not just unlikely with Anderson dropping out, but it seems wholly irrelevant today.

As Anderson indicates and as we may equally feel come Friday, a film about a supped up battle-mobile won't exactly strike a new chord. "I really feel like we pushed it to the max and the only other car movie I'll do is maybe a sequel to this, knock on wood, if this movie does well enough to deserve that, I really think we've kind of raised the bar when it comes to car action… we've done everything practical, we've done spectacular stunts, we've kept it R rated, really hard, we've had the actors do a lot of their own driving, so you know, I think we've really maxed our car movie, so I think we've laid down a challenge to any one else, I think we're now the movie to beat." And is Spy Hunter up for the challenge?

Hollywood is certainly no stranger to treading over well-worn territory, so perhaps Spy Hunter could be the film to one up Death Race. Presumably, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is still signed to play the lead and driver of the Interceptor. But post Death Race, would we really care about such a story? By the time a Spy Hunter film would hit, too, we'll also have seen the latest Bond film with a similarly slick spy, Daniel Craig, behind his very shiny Aston Martin. A Spy Hunter film would feel all too familiar if you ask me. So lacking original material, can Johnson's involvement pick up the slack? Not only that, can the project really sustain another stall now that Anderson has lost interest? Personally, I doubt it, but what do you think? Do you still want a Spy Hunter film, or has the concept totally been passed by?

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