Tony Gilroy Rewriting Red Dawn Remake, Cast and Plot Announced

According to Latino Review, they’ve learned that the folks behind the upcoming “Red Dawn” remake recently hired writer Tony Gilroy to rewrite the script by Carl Ellsworth and Jeremy Passmore that most of the plot details from the movie have been derived from so far. Gilroy delivered his script this past June, though they haven’t had a sneak peek at it, so it’s a mystery what Gilroy took out or added.

The filmmakers behind the remake have already publicly stated that they want to do a grittier, more “realistic” action movie in the vein of the “Bourne” films (hello, shaky cams!), no surprise given that Bradley was second unit director on the franchise for a while, and the franchise’s success seems to have made an impression on him and the people footing the bill. Tony Gilroy, meanwhile, was the writer on all three “Bourne” films, so it stands to reason his introduction to the remake is primarily to make it more “Bourne”-ish.


The Hollywood Reporter announced that Josh Peck and Adrianne Palicki will star alongside Chris Hemsworth (Star Trek). Hemsworth will play the group's leader, Jed Eckert (originally played by Patrick Swayze), and Peck will be reprising Charlie Sheen's role as Jed's younger brother, with Palicki filling in for Jennifer Grey as the tough-as-nails fighter and love interest for Jed. In the original film, our heroes went up against invading Communist hoards, but for the update it has been changed from Communists to a more generic threat of Russian and Chinese military.

Red Dawn is to begin filming in September, the film is scheduled to hit theaters Sept. 24, 2010.


Source: Latino Review via Beyond Hollywood and The Hollywood Reporter

What was so great about Red Dawn to make it worth a remake?