The Word Garage

The Word Garage

Shawn Levy Leaves ‘Voyage’ to Rebuild ‘Frankenstein’

You can’t keep a good monster down.

The Frankenstein monster and Dracula (and his vampire variations) used to be the main staples of the horror film market (in particular the Hammer Films variety), but lately the tall guy with electrodes in his neck has taken a back seat to more blood hungry types.

All that’s about to change with seven — count ’em seven — Frankenstein projects floating around Hollywood. Now add another — one that may be directed by comedy maven Shawn Levy.

Levy, coming off the Hugh Jackman-starrer ‘Real Steel,’ which will be released Oct. 7, had been talking to Fox about next helming the studio’s ‘Fantastic Voyage’ redo, but he’s had difficulty getting some of the stars he wanted for the film (Will Smith was one of them) and the production has bogged down. Instead, according to Deadline, it looks like Levy will helm Fox’s version of Frankenstein, which is scripted by Max Landis (John’s son).

Fox is looking at a winter/spring 2012 start date since the studio wants to get a jump on the other Frankenstein pictures in the works. The seven — some just talk: Guillermo del Toro’s Universal version, Sam Raimi’s Ghost House Pictures adaptation of ‘The Casebook of Victor Frankenstein,’ Summit Entertainment’s ‘This Dark Endeavor: The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein,’ Columbia’s contemporary re-telling, Scout Productions/Slasher Films’ ‘Wake the Dead’ (based on a graphic-novel) and Fox 2000’s remake of ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show.’

Levy, of course, has other projects in the works — 17 possibilities are listed at IMDb — so unless the studio moves quickly, they might lose him. Then they’d have to go on the hunt for another brain — so to speak.