Artisan To Remake Cronenbergs 'Scanners'

[Monday, July 15th, 2002]
Artisan Pictures is to remake "Scanners," the 1981 David Cronenberg thriller, reports Variety.

Original film revolved around the attempt by a scientist to infiltrate an underground movement of "scanners," people with extraordinary telepathic abilities who are using them to take over the world.

The Cronenberg-scripted film touched on paranoia and terrorism conspiracies, themes that will be amped up in the contemporized version. Also improved will be the special effects used for the signature gray-matter grenade finale.

"We were approached by Artisan just as we were about to hire a showrunner to do a TV series based on 'Scanners,' " said David. "But they persuaded us the film could reach new audiences unfamiliar with the original," he explained.

"The original was more sophisticated than the slasher films coming out at that time, and it is considered something of a classic to the generation of filmmakers we will be trying to involve in the remake," said Saperstein, who was brought in by Amir Malin and Robert Cooper to ramp up a slate of mid-budget fare. "This kind of film is exactly what we want to do -- an elevated and stylish genre film which can be made for a reasonable budget."

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