Paul Feig discusses development of Universal’s Dark Army
After chatting with ComingSoon.net last year about his vision for the Universal Classic Monster crossover film Dark Army, writer/director Paul Feig (A Simple Favor) has opened up to Collider with new details on the development of the project.
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The project, one of many deviations from Universal’s now abandoned interconnected Dark Universe, has been in the works since September as the studio has begun working on more standalone reboots of their classic monster roster. After offering minor updates over the past few months, Feig has revealed that he’s now completed two separate drafts of the film and that “it’s one of my favorite scripts I’ve ever written.”
“Universal, they’re not quite sure what they’re doing right now,” Feig explained. “Because Invisible Man did really well on a very micro budget, and my movie’s a little more expensive than that. So I’m hoping to God we get to make it, because I just absolutely love it. I’m so thrilled with it.”
In describing the tone he’s seeking to encompass in the story, Feig says that while he’s “being very true to the traditional monster movie genre,” it won’t have the horror-tinge of Leigh Whannell’s acclaimed Invisible Man reboot, but more one of the lighter nature of the original films.
“I love those movies of the 30s, the James Whale movies, [and] Bride of Frankenstein I still think is one of the greatest films of all time,” Feig described. “So I want that tone because those movies were very fun. They treated them seriously, but you also know they were also having a lot of fun with them, so there are a lot of extreme characters in them and funny side characters. That’s what I want, I never wanted to make a horror movie. I want to make a true monster movie.”
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Feig’s recent writing and directing credits include A Simple Favor, Ghostbusters, Spy, The Heat, Bridesmaids,The Office and the most recent one the romance comedy Last Christmas, starring Emilia Clarke, Emma Thompson, and Henry Golding, and the TV movie Girls Code.
Paul Feig’s Dark Army is part of the growing list of Universal’s upcoming monster projects which includes: Dexter Fletcher’s film about Dracula henchman Renfield, Elizabeth Banks’ Invisible Woman, Matt Stawki’s Monster Mash and Leigh Whannell’s The Invisible Man which is set to premiere this February 28. It was also recently reported that Oscar-nominated producer Amy Pascal is interested in resurrecting the studio’s long-in development The Bride of Frankenstein reboot.