Rumoured Director Shortlist For Tomb Raider Reboot
It’s been some time since we’ve heard anything of the long-mooted revival of the ‘Tomb Raider’ franchise - but it seems the project might be hotting up at last.
The Tracking Board has shared a rumour of three directors Warner Bros are said to be circling to bring video game heroine Lara Croft back to the big screen - and they’re certainly not setting their sights low.
Allegedly, Warner Bros want ‘Tomb Raider’ to be directed by either Kathryn Bigelow, Catherine Hardwicke, or Mimi Leder.
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The first thing that will obviously draw comment here is that all the contenders are female. This, much like Patty Jenkins landing ‘Wonder Woman’ and Elizabeth Banks being in talks for ‘Charlie’s Angels,’ demonstrates further the current demand in Hollywood for more female directors on board female-based action movies.
And if we’re talking female Hollywood directors, they don’t come much bigger than this trio. Bigelow has a significant action pedigree (’Blue Steel,’ ‘Point Break,’ ‘Strange Days’), and of course the distinct merit of being the first woman ever to win the Best Director Oscar, for 2009′s ‘The Hurt Locker.’
Hardwicke, meanwhile, is best known for ‘Twilight’ and ‘Red Riding Hood,’ but has a history in more grounded, character-based work like ‘Thirteen,’ ‘Lords of Dogtown’ and her latest ‘Miss You Already.’
As for Leder, she ranked alongside Bigelow as one of the highest profile female directors of the 1990s, notably helming the very first Dreamworks movie ‘The Peacemaker’ and epic disaster drama ‘Deep Impact,’ although in recent years she has worked mostly in television.
Still, as easily as we might envisage any of these filmmakers taking on ‘Tomb Raider,’ it’s hard not be a little sceptical of this shortlist, particularly as it is said these three big name directors are being targeted after Tricia Brock - a considerably less well-known TV director (’Walking Dead,’ ‘Girls’) - turned the film down.
It’s also hard not to be a bit cynical as to the studio’s reasons for courting female directors for this film. For one thing, we might note that The Tracking Board mention Warners seeking a “Michelle MacLaren type” for ‘Tomb Raider.’
This seems a very odd stipulation, given that, while MacLaren is a seasoned TV director (and first choice for ‘Wonder Woman,’ before leaving over creative differences), she hasn’t actually directed any movies yet.
All this considered, it’s hard not to ponder whether female directors are being pursued for this and other future tent pole pictures purely for political reasons, as opposed to them actually being suited to the films in question.
Still, if the net result is more women getting to direct major films, is this necessarily a problem?
The wildly popular video game series was first brought to the screen by Paramount Pictures with 2001′s ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ and its 2003 sequel ‘Lara Croft Tomb Raider: the Cradle of Life,’ with Angelina Jolie in the role of Lara Croft.
While few disputed that Jolie was pitch-perfect casting (despite not being English), the films themselves - both directed by men, Simon West and Jan De Bont respectively - left quite a bit to be desired, and were met with bad reviews and only moderate box office success.
Writer Jane Espenson was previously hired to work on the ‘Tomb Raider’ reboot script, said to take a ‘Casino Royale’/’Batman Begins’-esque back to square one approach. The latest draft is reportedly from Evan Daugherty.
Picture Credit: Square Enix/Microsoft Studios, WENN, Paramount
