Michael Uslan Teams with Sam Raimi on ‘The Shadow’
It’s been two years since there has been any serious movement on a new feature film adaptation of The Shadow. Two years ago this month, Sony announced that they obtained the rights and will have Sam Raimi on board to produce and possibly direct the feature, telling the press, “I’ve been a passionate Shadow fan ever since I was a kid and have long dreamed of bringing this character to the screen.”
Now, producer Michael Uslan tells IGN that his company will be coproducing with Raimi’s outfit.
In October, Raimi reported, "I don’t have any news on The Shadow at this time, except that the company that I have with Josh Donen, my producing partner, we’ve got the rights to The Shadow. I love the character very much and we’re trying to work on a story that’ll do justice to the character."
Uslan confirmed that last week, adding that Siavash Farahani has penned the screenplay. She has only one previous screenwriting credit, 1999’s Ingénue. Uslan, whose Spirit film opens on Thursday, has someone “unconventional” in mind for the lead role but wouldn’t say anything further.
The Shadow, perhaps the best known of the pulp magazine adventure heroes, was previously the star if a big budget film in 1994, with Alec Baldwin as Lamont Cranston/Shadow. The character began life as the unnamed narrator of stories taken from Street &Smith’s crime pulps. As readers asked news dealers for “the Shadow” magazine, the publisher recognized the need for one. Editors commissioned the prolific Walter B. Gibson to create the character in 1931. The Shadow dominated newsstands and radio through the 1930s and 1940s. He went on to star in a movie serial and numerous comic book adaptations including the celebrated stories from Denny O’Neil and Michael Kaluta.
The original stories have been reprinted over the last year by Anthony Tollin.
Adrien Brody would be a fantastic Shadow/Cranston IMO … he's got the look, the nose, and most importantly, the insanity …
I hope the "unconventional" actor that Mr. Uslan has in mind is not too "unconventional." No one wants to see Jim Carrey, Denzel Washington or William H. Macy as The Shadow.