From Men To Boys

Director Brett Ratner, hot off of this summer's X-MEN: The Last Stand, is going to spend a little time in Brazil, as soon as he's done making Rush Hour 3.....

Word is that he is going to remake The Boys from Brazil--a 1978 sci-fi film originally made by the late Franklin J. Schaffner (1920-1989).

Michael Fleming of Variety has the 411 (Did I really just type that?)

Brett Ratner will direct a contemporized remake of 1978 thriller "The Boys From Brazil" for New Line, which has finalized a seven-figure rights package for the property.

Richard Potter and Matthew Stravitz will write the script.

The rights and scribes were part of an auction that came down to New Line and Universal.

Outcome was shaped when New Line-based Ratner agreed to make the movie.

Granada Films held the rights for the original film, which it acquired when buying the ITC library. "The Boys From Brazil" will be produced by Rob Green of Granada, along with Rat Entertainment partners Ratner and Jay Stern.

Based on the Ira Levin novel, the original "The Boys From Brazil" fit the mode of 1970s paranoid thrillers, with Laurence Olivier uncovering a diabolical plot by Nazis in South America to revive the Third Reich through the use of cloning. Gregory Peck played Dr. Josef Mengele, the plot's mastermind.

The writers pitched a take that sticks close to Levin's novel but sets the action in the present day.

"The original was a flawed film with a brilliant concept," Ratner said. "You no longer have to spend time explaining cloning as you did then."

The hope is Ratner will make "Boys" his follow-up to "Rush Hour 3," which New Line puts into production in late September for an Aug. 10, 2007, release.

Deal is the second for the writers since they teamed a year ago. They're working on an untitled supernatural thriller they sold to Warner Bros. and Mosaic

The '78 version is very underrated and is among Schaffner's best behind Patton and the original Planet of the Apes from 1968. Gregory Peck and Laurence Olivier played wonderfully well off of one another. For the remake to work as well you need 2 very good dramatic actors--no stunt casting please. Here's a good suggestion as a possible pair for the updated version: Patrick Stewart and Sir Anthony Hopkins---both of whom have worked with Ratner before. They would be perfect.