Not even The Fugitive can outrun the remake craze. The classic Harrison Ford-led 1993 thriller was a remake based on Roy Huggins’ television show from the 1960s. Not all TV-to-film adaptations are as memorable as The Fugitive, which features one of the most quotable exchanges of all time. “I didn’t kill my wife!” Ford shouts, to which Tommy Lee Jones replies: “I don’t care.” The big question is, who’ll inevitably say these lines next in Warner Bros.’ remake? That’s unknown, but what we do know is director Albert Hughes will direct the remake.
The Hughes Brothers Remain Solo Artists
Hughes is probably best known as one of the Hughes brothers, two of the most seminal filmmakers of the 1990s. Together, Albert and Allen directed Menace II Society and Dead Presidents. Their careers took a more commercial but no less satisfying turn in the 2000s when they helmed From Hell and the biggest hit of their career, The Book of Eli. The Denzel Washington post-apocalyptic pic was the last of their collaborations, though.
Allen went on to direct the forgettable crime drama, Broken City, but he made an epic comeback with HBO’s The Defiant Ones. It’s a fantastic miniseries about Interscope Records Jimmy Iovine and Dr. Dre. As for Albert, who was known as the more visually-minded of the duo, he recently directed Alpha. The survival picture went unnoticed by mass audiences but it was well-received. The Detroit-born filmmakers haven’t worked together in a decade, and with Albert moving on to direct The Fugitive remake, they’ll most likely remain solo artists for the foreseeable future.
The Story of the Fugitive
In Andrew Davis’ (Under Siege) 1993 film, a famed doctor is on the run over the death of his wife. He’s innocent, but the man chasing him, played by Tommy Lee Jones, cares more about catching him than his innocence. Save it for the court, that’s Jones’ attitude in the movie. It’s a great cat-and-mouse movie between two mega-stars firing on all cylinders. Tommy Lee Jones won an Academy Award for the Best Picture-nominated thriller for good reason. Whoever signs up to star in The Fugitive remake, they’ll have a big shadow to crawl out from under.
What’s the Story on the Remake?
Deadline broke the story about the in-the-works remake, claiming “the studio intends on putting a new spin” on the story. Hughes’ movies tend to tackle social issues, so perhaps we’re in store for a vision of The Fugitive that is more modern and relevant. More often than not, Hughes’ movies have a brain as big as their spectacle.
Screenwriter Brian Tucker is writing the remake, which admittedly, doesn’t inspire great confidence. Tucker only has one other produced screenwriting credit, and it’s Allen Hughes’ weakest film, Broken City. Despite a star-heavy cast, like Mark Wahlberg and Russell Crowe, it’s a thriller that falls flat. There’s very little excitement in that movie, and The Fugitive needs excitement. Then again, Tucker may have written some great unproduced scripts, so who knows? One credit isn’t enough to judge someone’s body-of-work.
The Fugitive Remake No. 2
Hollywood can’t get enough of The Fugitive. There’s a second remake of the property in the works, which is for the streaming service Quibi. It’ll star Kiefer Sutherland (24) hunting down Boyd Holbrook (The Predator), who’s suspected of a subway train bombing and considered guilty in trial by media. The two remakes are hardly competition, like White House Down and Olympus Has Fallen were, but in a world always in need of more original stories, why not make The Fugitive for a third and fourth time?
