HOLLYWOOD
July
13, 2006 -
One of the more successful horror films in recent years,
The Pang Brothers' The Eye, is getting the remake
treatment and Jessica Alba looks set to star. Variety
reported late Tuesday that the star of Sin City and Into
the Blue was in talks to star in the recently revived
The Eye, which had been put in turnaround by Paramount,
but has now been picked up by Lions Gate. The tale of a
woman who gets her vision back but can see more than she
should could start shooting as early as this winter with
French directors David Moreau and Xavier Palud, who are
actually just coming off of their French debut, the
horror film Ils.
After its international success, Tom Cruise and Paula
Wagner convinced Paramount to buy the rights to The Eye
four years ago, but the project never got off the ground
after Renee Zellweger, the originally intended star,
dropped out. Jessica Alba looks like she might make the
horror remake her first film after she finishes the
currently shooting Fantastic Four and the Silver Surfer,
while it would be the first U.S. film for directors
David Moreau and Xavier Palud. Tom Cruise and Paula
Wagner would still produce, even though the film has
moved to Lions Gate, after being put in turnaround by
Paramount.
The Eye, as directed by Danny and Oxide Pang in Hong
Kong, had a brief run in American art house theaters and
is available on DVD but, despite a loyal cult following,
isn't as widely known as some of the other recent
remakes like The Ring and The Grudge, which did
wonders
for Naomi Watts and Sarah Michelle Gellar, respectively.
Jessica Alba is hoping for similar horror remake
success. The Eye is a powerful tale of a young woman -
the role Jessica Alba would take - who gets a cornea
transplant, allowing her to see again, but she starts to
have visions of people that others can't (kind of like
Cole from The Sixth Sense) and they may be trying to
harm her. In the end, she's forced to track down the
original owner of the transplanted organ to try and
figure out what's happening. It's a creepy, atmospheric
tale with a twist as good as The Sixth Sense and if
handled well, could be a huge platform for Jessica Alba.
Not like Jessica Alba needs much of a launching point
nowadays, as she graces magazine covers constantly (she
was just on the front of Entertainment Weekly) and has a
loyal male and female following. After a successful
career as a child actor, Jessica Alba took the world by
storm in FOX's Dark Angel. After that breakthrough, she
would go on to star as Nancy Callahan in Sin City (and
is in pre-production to star in the sequel, Sin City 2,
as well), Sue Storm in Fantastic Four, and Sam in Into
the Blue. After a relatively quiet period for such a
rising star, Jessica Alba has six films on her docket,
not including The Eye. She'll reprise her roles in
Fantastic Four and Sin City and will star in the drama
Awake later this year, along with Bill, co-starring
Aaron Eckhart, next year. Jessica Alba's a busy actress
and The Eye will just be added to the list. If The Eye
starts filming by the end of this year, watch for a
release late next, perhaps even in the coveted Halloween
Lions Gate slot, which has done wonders for the Saw
franchise the last few years. That's assuming, of
course, that Saw IV isn't in that slot.
E-mail this page
