In 1985, MGM brought former cop turned government agent Remo Williams to the screen with Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins (a.k.a. Remo: Unarmed and Dangerous), hoping to launch a franchise based upon Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir’s The Destroyer series of pulp novels with Fred Ward (Tremors) in the lead role.
While that effort failed to take off, it looks like Sony is looking to give the character another chance at big screen success, with Deadline revealing that Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Iron Man 3) has signed on to direct The Destroyer from a script by Jim Uhls (Fight Club) and James Mullaney, co-author of several books in the series.
“Shane has been a fan of the original Destroyer book series since its inception and he has an incredible vision for this film,” said Charles Roven (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice), who will serve as producer. “[We] couldn’t be more fortunate to be working with this talented director on this material. The narrative Jim and James have created is incredibly rich and while it’s a story rooted in adventure, it is also very much character driven.”
The Destroyer is one of several projects on Black’s slate; he is currently in pre-production on The Nice Guys starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe and is also attached to write and direct a reboot of Predator, along with Doc Savage.
Originally published August 25, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
