Friday, December 13, 2013

Ridley Scott Producing "Murder on the Orient Express" Remake

Variety reports that Fox has plans for a new film adaptation of author Agatha Christie's classic 1934 novel 


In the story, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot is on the Orient Express travelling from Istanbul to Paris. On the train an angry American man approaches him believing his life is in danger, but Poirot refuses to help. With the train stopped by a snowdrift, Poirot awakens to find the man has been murdered and he must determine which of the thirteen other passengers were involved. The death ultimately ties back to the kidnapping and murder of a child heiress years before, and the solution is one of Christie's most clever .

Ridley Scott, Mark Gordon and Simon Kinberg are on board to produce, though no writers or directors are onboard as yet.

The property has been adapted three times before, the most acclaimed being Sidney Lumet's quite faithful 1974 film with Albert Finney, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman, Lauren Bacall, Jacqueline Bisset, John Gielgud, Vanessa Redgrave, Michael York and Anthony Perkins.

The 2001 TV Movie Americanized the story while the most recent incarnation was 2010 's TV movie adaptation starring David Suchet as Poirot. This version was criticized for making major changes from  the source material, including a religious angle that was not Christie's style

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