Almost 30 years have passed since John Frankenheimer’s Island of Dr. Moreau— the film starring Marlon Brando and Val Kilmer – so it’s clearly time for a remake of HG Wells’ classic.
However, this is not a direct adaptation, but a “modern reinterpretation” called Eyes in the trees with Anthony Hopkins (Thor: RagnarokPicture above), Jonathan Rhys Meyers (The Tudors), Ashley Greene (the dusk Films), Praya Lundberg (Supercell) and Thomas Kretschmann (Indiana Jones and the Blade of Destiny). Here is the synopsis of the film, according to Variety:
Eyes in the trees follows “a video journalist and his film crew who embark on a journey into a remote forest, only to find that their excursion becomes a fight for survival not only for themselves, but for all of humanity. Vince Henway (Meyers) and his former protégé and now ex Channing Arneau (Greene) lead their team into the heart of Monkey Ko off the coast of Thailand. Known locally as the ‘Island of Death,’ the island harbors rumors of forgotten government medical experiments and scientific genetic manipulation led by Dr. Addis (Hopkins). What they find on the island is beyond their wildest expectations, a product of nightmares. Their search for answers quickly turns into a fight for survival as they try to thwart Dr. Addis’ plan to ‘evolve’ humanity and kill off most of the Earth’s human population.”
That seems like a lot of details, but the film hasn’t started shooting yet, so we’ll probably all forget some of it before it actually hits theaters. I have a whole bunch of questions – they start with Channing Arneau and continue with The Island of Death – but I’m also intrigued by this cast and by the presence of Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who always seems to be on the verge of giving his Velvet Goldmine-era highs. (One day!)
Eyes in the trees Directed by Timothy Woodward Jr. (Studio City) and written by B. Harrison Smith (Where the scary things are), Mike Manning (Powder Puppy) and Dominic Burns (Madness in the method). Production in Thailand will begin later this year.
