Anna Daniels
It’s been two years since we heard Ryan Reynolds was producing a new adaptation of the classic murder mystery board game Clue from Deadpool writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Since then, Jason Bateman boarded the project as director, but unfortunately, his commitment to the Netflix series Ozark will keep him from following through. Now the project set up at the newly branded 20th Century Studios has brought on a new filmmaker from Disney’s neck of the woods: The Muppets director James Bobin.
Variety has word on the new Clue remake director stepping up to take the reins from Jason Bateman. Even though James Bobin’s most recent film was Dora and the Lost City of Gold at Paramount Pictures, the director was previously comfy at Disney, having helmed The Muppets, the disappointing sequel Muppets Most Wanted, and the fantasy sequel Alice Through the Looking Glass.
That might sound like a resume that only gets worse as it goes on, but don’t underestimate James Bobin as a comedic director. He’s also been behind 11 episodes of the hilarious HBO series Flight of the Conchords, not to mention 16 episodes of Da Ali G Show with Sacha Baron Cohen. So he knows how to direct good comedy for adult audiences.
At the same time, it’s a shame we won’t get to see how Bateman handles a major studio comedy like this, especially since his feature debut Bad Words showed some promise. Bateman has certainly proven he has skills behind the camera recently, earning Emmy nominations for directing, as well as a nod from the Director’s Guild of America Awards, all for his work on the Netflix series Ozark. Bateman was also planning on having a role in Clue, but if his schedule will keep him from directing the movie, he likely doesn’t have time to have a role in the movie now either.
Thankfully, 20th Century Studios intends to surround Ryan Reynolds with a lot of high-profile talent. Could we be looking at a Murderer’s Row of comedic talent akin to the all-star cast assembled for Knives Out or Murder on the Orient Express? That would be amazing. After all, the original 1985 adaptation of Clue had some of the best talent of the 1980s with Tim Curry, Eileen Brennan, Lesley Ann Warren, Michael McKean, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn and Martin Mull playing the characters from the board game. I can only imagine what kind of high profile talent Reynolds could assemble from his famous friends.
There’s potential in a Clue remake, but it still has a lot to live up to since the original is considered a comedy classic. It was rather innovative at the time of release because it featured three different endings in theaters. It didn’t help the movie become a box office draw, earning less than $15 million, but the movie became a hit on home video where all three endings were included at the end, making the conclusion even zanier. We’re very interested in seeing how this new version of Clue approaches things.
No release date for Clue is set yet, but we’ll keep you posted.
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