by: Austin Welch source: Deadline
Sounds like Raimi is trying to give Bryan Singer a run for his money in the fine art of piling too much on one’s plate.
According to Deadline, Mandate Pictures recently won an auction for a rights package to produce a remake of The Day Of The Triffids. Triffids, a 1953 sci-fi novel by John Wyndham – who also penned the original Village Of The Damned – was previously adapted for the screen in 1962, and twice more for the BBC in 1981 and 2009. Sam Raimi, who claims to have been a boyhood fan of the ’62 film, is producing alongside Rob Tapert for Mandate Films, but also wants to direct. Additional producers include Michael Preger, Mark Gordon, Susan Montford, and Don Murphy.
The plot centers on a race of alien plant life that aims to eliminate humanity. From imdb:
“A shower of meteorites produces a glow that blinds anyone that looks at it. As it was such a beautiful sight, most people were watching, and as a consequence, 99% of the population go blind. In the original novel, this chaos results in the escape of some Triffids, experimental plants that are capable of moving themselves around and attacking people. In the film version, however, the Triffids are not experimental plants. Instead they are space aliens whose spores have arrived in an earlier meteor shower.”
Word is that the remake will more closely follow the adapted ’62 film – which also inspired Danny Boyle to make 28 Days Later – as opposed to the novel, which was part of the rights package. It’s too early for a timetable on production and release at this early stage.
In the meantime, enjoy the song of the same name by Irish power-poppers Ash, issued as a B-side in 1994, and partially inspired by the book and film, along with other sci-fi imagery.
