Talking to Total Film at this past weekend’s Comic Con, Resident Evil: Extinction writer/producer Paul WS Anderson let slip a few new details about his planned remake of Death Race 2000.
First up: don’t call it a remake. “It’s more of a re-imagining of Death Race 2000, rather than a direct remake,” Anderson told us. “It’s set slightly in the future, at a prison, and features Jason Statham, Tyrese Gibson and Joan Allen. She plays the prison governor and she is bad ass!” laughs the director.
Will the tone stay the same? “It’s got humour in it, but it’s not a campy movie like the original, as Statham has a much more dry sense of humour.” One thing remains constant, though. “It’s super-violent like the original, and a lot of people get killed by vehicles. It has little echoes of the original – a lot of people get run down, but rather than having the points system, which had no pay off anyway, it’s a pure race. It’s more like Gladiator, with the last person standing – or driving, winning.” Death Race starts shooting in a month in Montreal.
