'Death Wish' Remake Finds Its Directors

The directing duo behind the Israeli revenge movie Big Bad Wolves have a Death Wish.

Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado are in negotiations to direct Death Wish, MGM and Paramount's long-in-the-works remake of the 1974 vigilante movie that starred Charles Bronson.

Bruce Willis is attached to star in the remake, which is being produced by Ridley Scott and Jules Daly.

The original film was an adaptation of a novel by Brian Garfield and told of a man who goes on a revenge spree after his wife is killed and daughter sexually assaulted.

The movie struck a nerve with audiences who were facing the decade’s high crime rate and re-invented the career of Bronson, then 53. It also set off a long list of sequels.

MGM has long tried to load a remake into its chamber only to shoot blanks. Joe Carnahan last wrote the script and was planning to direct but that was in 2012.

2013’s Wolves told the story of a tainted police officer and father of a girl who was assaulted and murdered, who both kidnap the man they think is responsible. They plan on torturing him to find out information, but things don’t go as planned.

Keshales and Papushado are repped by WME.

Bruce Willis? They couldn't get Liam Neeson?

Bruce Willis? They couldn't get Liam Neeson?

Eli Roth to Direct 'Death Wish' Remake

Eli Roth has a Death Wish.

The director behind Hostel and Green Inferno has closed a deal to direct MGM and Paramount's long-in-the-works remake of the 1974 vigilante movie that starred Charles Bronson.

Bruce Willis is attached to star in the remake, which is being produced by Roger Birnbaum.

Roth is coming on board after the position was vacated with the departure of Israeli filmmakers Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado. The project, in its modern incarnation, initially had Joe Carnahan as director but he left in 2012. Scott Alexander and Larry Karazewski wrote the current script.

The original film was an adaptation of a novel by Brian Garfield and told of a man who goes on a revenge spree after his wife is killed and his daughter is sexually assaulted.

The movie struck a nerve with audiences who were facing the decade’s high crime rate and reinvented the career of Bronson, then 53. It also set off a long list of sequels.

Roth has been slowly transitioning away from horror and into big-budgeted and elevated fare. He last directed Knock Knock, a sexual thriller that starred Keanu Reeves. He was attached to direct the monster movie Meg for Warner Bros. but creative differences and budgetary concerns got in the way. Roth is also returning to host Shark After Dark, Discovery's Shark Week late night talk show starting June 26.

He is repped by WME.

That looks like it could be very entertaining

Will he have a catch phrase?

I saw a comment that Charles Bronson wasnt a super hero, but a weak sort of person who was pushed to violence. They said Jake Gyllenhall or Jesse Eisenberg would have made the better weakling gets pushed over the edge and strike back.

Thoughts?

That's a pretty goodsummation of where things stand generally -- you could have made the same movie, with the same lines, with Jesse Eisenberg, and it would have been perhaps disturbing emotionally, but not a challenge to analyze politically. But Bruce Willis is a well put-together, unrepentant action hero type in this movie.