John Wick director Chad Stahelski taking Henry Cavill ‘Highlander’ to American Film Market
Written by ABC AUDIO ALL RIGHTS RESERVED on October 27, 2023
A said to-be-$100 million-plus Highlander reboot starring Henry Cavill and directed by the John Wick franchise’s Chad Stahelski is getting closer to hitting the big screen.
Deadline reports the stuntman-turned filmmaker will be shopping the sought-after project at the American Film Market, the annual confab that helps studios — in this case Wick‘s Lionsgate — secure financing and theatrical distribution.
Cavill, the former star of The Witcher, will be succeeding Christopher Lambert and Adrian Paul in the lead as one of the sword-wielding immortals who hunt each other in an effort to take the other’s power.
The original 1986 film followed Lambert’s Connor MacLeod from the Scottish highlands of old to modern-day New York City as he’s hunted by one of his kind, the Kurgan, played by Avatar and John Wick: Chapter Four star Clancy Brown.
Before he goes off on his own, however, Connor is shown the ropes by Sean Connery‘s Scottish-sounding Spaniard Highlander named Juan Sánchez-Villalobos Ramírez.
Highlander, which featured a soundtrack by Queen, went on to spawn four follow-up films and three TV series starring Paul as one of MacLeod’s descendants.
This new iteration will be co-produced by Fast and Furious franchise’s Neal H. Moritz, according to the trade, which quoted Stahelski as describing the project as “John Wick with swords.”
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