‘Rogue One’ Star Diego Luna Joins That ‘Flatliners’ Remake
Is there anyone out there demanding aFlatlinersremake? Probably not. The original 1990 film is fine, a perfectly adequate supernatural thriller that goes down easy enough and then vanishes from the brain without leaving a last impression. In a weird way, this actually makes it the ideal movie for the remake treatment – there is no reason to film new versions of beloved, classic movies when there are plenty of great concepts attached to forgettable movies floating around, awaiting resurrection.
The last we heard fromFlatliners, the delightfulEllen Pagewas attached to lead the film. Now, she has her first co-star in the form ofDiego Luna, the talented Mexican actor known for his work in films likeMilk,Elysium,The Terminal, andY Tu Mamá También. Oh yeah, he’s also in some upcoming movie calledRogue One: A Star Wars Story.
The news of Luna’s casting comes to us viaThe Wrap. Although exact details of the remake and its characters remain unknown, it would be easy to assume that Luna will be playing the role Kiefer Sutherland played in the original film while Page takes on the Julia Roberts part. But that would be too easy, so I’m going to assume that Luna is playing Roberts and Page is playing Sutherland until someone says something official. It’s 2016, so whynotgender swap a remake of a movie that no one is particularly passionate about? After all, the core cast of the original film consisted of four men and one women while this new version will follow three women and two men. You know…diversity!
The originalFlatlinerswas directed by Joel Schumacher and followed a group of medical students who stop each other’s hearts to see if there’s anything after death. Naturally, there is something beyond the veil of death and it’s none too happy to have visitors. Thrills and chills and such ensue.
The remake will be directed byNiels Arden Oplev, who is best known for helming the originalThe Girl With the Dragon Tattooand the pilot episode ofMr. Robot.Source CodewriterBen Ripleyis behind the screenplaywhileLaurence MarkandMichael Douglasproduce.
There is no release date forFlatlinersjust yet, but production is set to begin in July. Meanwhile, Luna is keeping busy. In addition to thatStar Warsmovie, he’s also set to star alongside Mel Gibson in the upcomingBlood Fatherand will play a role in Ana Lily Amirpour’sThe Bad Batch. If you didn’t know Luna before now, you will know him very soon.
