There are some stuff and rumors about a new Doc Savage movie, and concerns about making it a period piece as it seems all period action films (except for Indiana Jones), seem to bomb. Yet fans like it due to it being more faithful. So some random thoughts from me:

One way around the faithful modern chasm is to use an angle like Howard Chaykin's Shadow and have it be about a dramatic return of Doc Savage. Reference the past and the differences about those days but set it in modern times.

If you do set it in the past (I'm not opposed to that), don't make it a Disneyfied version of the past like all the other period films. make it look more real, dirty even and amp up the sexiness of the stories.

Someone mentioned either the Rock or Jon Hamm. Personally I would like an unknown who looks the part. Doc is stoic so a good director can overcome and newbie actor. The Rock has the body and "bronze" look though and Hamm has the acting chops (would need to bulk up).

Can we film it in 1968 with Clint Walker?

Nice call!!

I think a period piece would be a mistake-- the creators of the series set it in modern times and Doc was always supposed to be futuristic. I think makign Doc a relic of past betrays the concept of the series.

Agree somewhat but I always dig that retro scientific stuff.

Oh, I love that stuff too, but the point of the series is that it's about technology of tomorrow being used to fight crime today.

Also, as you point out, period pieces seem doomed to failure. I think a very slick film a la Mission Impossible 3 with a star like The Rock could do pretty well.

What about what I mentioned which is Doc's been in hiding and comes out of retirement, with modern futuristic science, and a new cast of characters?

I'd set it in the 20s and 30s with nods to Steampunk versions of modern technology. Modernizing Doc Savage and then trying to advance his tech beyond that in this day and age is only going to get you hoots of derision. Better to let the audience in on the gag and then admire the alternate imaginings of what that era saw as amazing futuristic technology.

My first choice too but make sure the 20s look real and not amusement parkish.

That's it. The winning combination to me is that he was a hero of old, with glory days in some zeppelin-tinged era in the 1930's.

Some Dr. Evil type threat from the past sprouts up in the present day, and there's an opportunity for a bunch of flash backs and beautiful cinematography of art deco crap.

Ultimately, it's revealed that Doc Savage is not aging normally and is still young and fit enough to kick butt (maybe about a 45 year old look -- Viggo could do the role).

He reminds us all that heroes are real, and reignites that old spirit of can do American heroism. Sort of the "best of then and now" feeling.

I hear this is being written by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Long Kiss Goodnight, Last Boy Scout, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) - so it will be a good action piece at the very least with some cool dialogue.

Hoots of derision? How many Doc fans do you think are out there? If every Doc fan in the country went to this movie on opening weekend, I'd be stunned if it broke $2 million.

I think you guys are speaking to what appeals to you as fans-- I don't think a steampunk or retro cool Doc would make that much money, no matter how good it was.

Have to throw in with the idea that a new Doc Savage flick should go for a modern, high-tech Doc Savage. It can still have a great retro vibe. Keep the HQ in the old building, have a vintage car for his ride, hell, even keep the gold from the secret Mayan village as the source of his limitless wealth. Just make the crime fighting gadgets and technology cutting edge. Make Savage actually savage. Sex it up a little. Blood it up a little. Make his crew of cronies actually seem like badasses. Since Bond is trying to go "too real" Savage could co-opt the gimmick weapons/gear schtick whilst it lays fallow.

Caveman = Right the Fuck On

I think it's a more challenging role than y'all seem to think. On paper, it was far easier to see that he was a noble, driven character with a passion for justice than it would be in a film. Doc's stoic personality might be difficult to portray onscreen.

In any case, although I would love to see a period piece, I don't think it would be successful. Their best bet is to establish Doc's history with a pre-credit sequence or title montage (like they used in WATCHMEN), ending it with his disappearance from the public eye in 1949. Perhaps he's been holed away in his Fortress of Solitude, creating most of the technological advances of the last 60 years, until some incredible threat motivates him to take action once again.

Some goofball reeling in wonder: "This place is incredible! What is it?"

Doc: "I call it my Fortress of Solitude."

Goofball: "Fortress of Solitude? Read a lot of Superman comics, huh?"

Doc: *ironic little smile, shrugs, heads deeper into building*

"Fortress of Solitude" has lost its luster for Superman, as well. Makes me think of the crapper.

Bingo! If you remember he has perfected his body with special isometrics and probably nutrition too so he is still in his prime. And he comes back from the Fortress to the real world because of the seeming return of John Sunlight. maybe it was deemed inhuman his brainwashing techniques and they reversed it on Sunlight, thereby unleashing this great threat again. He gathers a new team of science heroes with the same HQ but done high tech, same with his car.

This would make a great Warren Ellis comic book. Sort of like Planetary, but the shadowy organization is Doc Savage's, funded by his great wealth.

"So, Doc, what were you doing during the rise of the Third Reich and the Holocaust?"

From AICN:

Orci & Kurtzman are producing DOC SAVAGE!!!

Hey folks, Harry here... with the latest gift from the Alamo's HIGHBALL. Sunday night may be the HIGHBALL's Grand Opening - but already it has delivered one helluva cool scoop.
Last night, a friend was having her birthday party there - at a pair of bowling lanes. Yoko and I went down and it was to be an evening of friends, drinks, cake and bowling. When who should appear, but Shane Black. He's in town for another function entirely, but he came over to chat a bit with me. Somewhere, the Mighty Joe Hallenbeck was crying.

When I asked him what he was working on, he shocked me with the revelation that he was going to be writing a script for DOC SAVAGE, which Orci & Kurtzman (those STAR TREK, EAGLE EYE, TRANSFORMERS guys) were producing.

If you've been reading the site for the past 14 years - you know that I'm a Doc Savage freak. We've tracked the property as it has been developed and redeveloped and almost made many many times. Even now, AB King is typing up an email to ask me if I asked Shane Black if he was writing this to star Arnie. No AB, that never crossed my mind.

However, I did inquire if they were modernizing the character. I asked this with dread in my belly, and Shane passed the test by saying the character can not be separated from the 30s. This is correct. Right now, he is preparing to write the script. He has decided that Doc needs to have his Fabulous Five. It will be an original DOC SAVAGE story that attempts to encapsulate the feeling of the whole collection of Lester Dent's work.

We then talked quite a bit about George Pal's wildly off-base version. Frankly, I'm absolutely thrilled that Orci & Kurtzman handed this one off to SHANE BLACK - he understands how to write dialogue for MEN in films - and having him pen a new adventure for Clark Savage Jr and his awesome 5 partners in adventure and enterprise... Monk, Ham, Long Tom, Johnny and Renny... well, it just makes me hold my breath for a director announcement. Let's pray this gets handled just right!

You should look for Ellis' Apparat collection. One of the characters, Simon Specter, is a riff on Doc Savage. From Wiki:

Modeled after Doc Savage and The Shadow, Simon Spector is a wealthy man who apparently lives in a skyscraper in Manhattan. He has been trained to kill barehanded and makes use of drugs which make him "super-sane" with advanced cognitive abilities, at the cost of cutting his life expectancy with each dose.

It looks like it's out of print, but since he's working on another set of stories under the Apparat title, it might be reprinted soon.