Nicolas Cage To Remake Lieutenant
May 14, 2008

File this one under "good news, bad news." Nicolas Cage is going to star in a remake of Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant. Given the actor's recent career (um, National Treasure 2?) and the ease with which a poor writer could turn this dark story into just another action movie about a corrupt cop, it's the kind of news that could be treated with a horrified gasp, but guess who's directing it? Werner Herzog. The man who made Aguirre, Grizzly Man, and Rescue Dawn will NOT make a typical cop movie and makes this one of the more interesting projects in production. The film will be produced by Edward R. Pressman, who also produced the original, and Avi Lerner's Nu Image/Millennium Films, according to today's Variety.

The remake will also be called Bad Lieutenant and will be officially announced at Cannes with production starting later this summer. The original film was written by Abel Ferrara and Zoe Lund and directed by Ferrara and caused quite a stir after earning an NC-17 rating for some very explicit scenes, including a notorious full-frontal shot of star Harvey Keitel. The new script has been penned by Billy Finkelstein, a TV writer who has worked on Murder One, Law & Order, and NYPD Blue. Uh oh. Good shows, but does anyone else think the remake is going the NC-17 route based on that resume? Anyone but Werner?

Werner Herzog's last few projects include the doc Encounter at the End of the World, Rescue Dawn, The Wild Blue Yonder, Grizzly Man, The White Diamond, Wheel of Time, and Invincible. Oscar-winner Nicolas Cage was recently seen in National Treasure 2 and will next hit screens in August's Bangkok Dangerous. He's filming Knowing with director Alex Proyas and other recent credits include Next, Ghost Rider, The Wicker Man, World Trade Center, The Weather Man, Lord of War, National Treasure, Matchstick Men, and Adaptation.