Critical Blast

Critical Blast.  No, not a new Destroyer title. It's the name of a website which "is dedicated to delivering news, reviews, opinions and interviews from the field of entertainment and pop culture."  One of the contributors is Destroyer fan and book reviewer R.J. Carter.
Many of his Destroyer articles appeared in The-Trades. Unfortunately, the site's owners decided to stop running it, so that site is now defunct. But R.J. and some of the other contributors got together and started Critical Review. Go check it out and "like" the site's Facebook page as well.
Fortunately, R.J. managed to save some Destroyer and Legacy reviews and interviews, including this one with Warren Murphy and James Mullaney.

BREAKING DESTROYER MOVIE NEWS:

SHANE BLACK TO DIRECT “THE DESTROYER” FOR SONY PICTURES ENTERTAINMENT, ATLAS ENTERTAINMENT, AND CURRENTENTERTAINMENT TO PRODUCE

Jim Uhls & James Mullaney Penning the Screenplay Based On the Long-Running Book Series

LOS ANGELES, CA, AUGUST 21, 2014 – Sony Pictures Entertainment announced today Shane Black will direct the film adaptation of the popular adventure book series THE DESTROYER by Warren Murphy. Penning the screenplay are Jim Uhls (Fight Club) and James Mullaney; Mullaney co-authored and became the sole writer of THE DESTROYER until the series’ end in 2008. Charles Roven, Steven Chasman, and Andy Horwitz will produce. Michael De Luca and Lauren Abrahams will oversee for Sony Pictures Entertainment.

THE DESTROYER is based on the series of paperback novels in which Newark cop Remo Williams is framed, sentenced to death, then resurrected following a botched execution.  The reason?  To serve as enforcement arm for CURE, a top-secret, extra-Constitutional arm of the U.S. government.  Along with a seemingly ageless – and often hilarious – Asian assassin known only as Chiun, Williams sets out to "clean up" and take out those who oppose America’s interests.  The surprisingly-heartfelt stories combine edgy old-school suspense with Eastern mysticism to produce unique, rapid-fire capers full of slick banter, social satire, and sudden violence.

“Shane has been a fan of the original DESTROYER book series since its inception and he has an incredible vision for this film. Atlas couldn’t be more fortunate to be working with this talented director on this material,” said Charles Roven of Atlas Entertainment. “The narrative Jim and James have created is incredibly rich and while it’s a story rooted in adventure, it is also very much character driven.”
“The Destroyer is a two-fisted classic and deserves no less than the genius of Shane Black,” said Michael De Luca, president of Production for Columbia Pictures.“We couldn't be more excited about his vision for this character.”
Shane Black is currently attached to co-write and direct DOC SAVAGE, based on the hero of pulp novels, films, and comic books, for Columbia Pictures.  Black most recently wrote and directed IRON MAN 3, which became the fifth highest grossing film of all time worldwide. He began his career in screenwriting, making his mark with LETHAL WEAPON and collaborating on its sequel. Black’s directorial debut came in 2005 with his critically acclaimed KISS KISS BANG BANG starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer.

Jim Uhls is best known for having written the screenplay for the classic film FIGHT CLUB directed by David Fincher. Subsequently he has written a number of films and television shows, having worked with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Doug Liman, and Shane Black, to name a few. Jim began his career as an original member of The Actors Gang when it was founded at UCLA.

James Mullaney is a Shamus Award-nominated novelist who has written 37 books, as well as comics and short stories. He is author of the Red Menaceseries of spy thrillers and the comic-fantasy-noir Crag Banyon Mysteries detective series.

Black is represented by WME and David Greenblatt of GreenLit Creative. Uhls is represented by Paradigmand Anonymous Content. Mullaney is represented by David Greenblatt as well.

ABOUT SONY PICTURES:

Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) is a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Sony Corporation. SPE's global operations encompass motion picture production, acquisition and distribution; television production, acquisition and distribution; television networks; digital content creation and distribution; operation of studio facilities; and development of new entertainment products, services and technologies. For additional information, go to http://www.sonypictures.com.

ABOUT ATLAS ENTERTAINMENT:

Atlas Entertainment, led by founder Charles Roven, produces blockbuster films as well as critically acclaimed features. Atlas Entertainment’s films have generated billions of dollars in revenues. Atlas is currently in production on the highly anticipated feature film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice for Warner Bros directed by Zack Snyder set for release on March 25, 2016. Also upcoming, Atlas Entertainment is in post-production on Duncan Jones’ Warcraft from Legendary Pictures and Universal Pictures with a March 11, 2016 release. Atlas Entertainment is also filming the SYFY series 12 Monkeys, a drama series based on the 1995 Universal Pictures film directed by Terry Gilliam and produced by Charles Roven’s Atlas Entertainment, slated to premiere January 2015. The Atlas team most recently collaborated with David O. Russell on the critically acclaimed box office hit American Hustle which has grossed more than 250 million dollars in world wide box-office.  Among its many accolades, the film won 3 BAFTA awards, was nominated for 10 Academy Awards ® including a Best Picture nomination for Atlas’ producers Charles Roven and Richard Suckle.  It also received seven Golden Globe® nominations, winning 3 including Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical.

ABOUT CURRENT ENTERTAINMENT:

Current Entertainment, founded by Steven Chasman, has specialized in producing cutting edge action films.  Chasman’s latest production Wild Card, based on the screenplay and novel Heat written by Academy Award-winner William Goldman, and starring Jason Statham, Stanley Tucci, Hope Davis and Sofia Vergara, will be released worldwide in the first quarter 2015.  Chasman and Current Entertainment have also produced a number of films with Luc Besson, including the highly successful Transporter Trilogy starring Statham, the Jet Li-starring films Kiss of the Dragon and Unleashed, and Taxi starring Jimmy Fallon.  Some of Current Entertainment's other productions include: Taylor Hackford-directed Parker based on the series of novels by Donald Westlake, which starred Statham, Jennifer Lopez and Nick Nolte, Blitz based on the novel by KenBruen, Killer Elite based on the true story written by Sir Ranulph Fiennes, starring Statham, Robert De Niro and Clive Owen, and alongside Charles Roven/Atlas Entertainment, Roger Donaldson’s critically acclaimed The Bank Job, starring Statham and based on the 1971 Baker Street bank robbery.

Destroyer Movie Treatment

I posted about The Destroyer movie at my Web site forum three years ago. It was already stuck in development hell back then. Beats me if there's been any movement since then; all I do know is nobody's called me. My post three years ago was about the movie treatment I'd written. It was so good that I recently stole a tiny little bit of it for The Red Menace #4. For you Destroyer fans who didn't see my post years ago, here's a section that might interest you:

I won't give out any plot details, but I will say that it's a totally new adventure. I think that's best for Remo on the screen.

--It's not an origin story because I mostly hate origin stories.

--When the script starts, Remo is already Remo. Think of our first intro to Indiana Jones in South America in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Indy was already Indy.

--Smith is involved in the action and gets out from behind his desk. Many folks make the mistake of seeing Smith as just some guy who gives Remo his marching orders then fades into irrelevancy. Not so. Smith is part of a triumvirate. He's important to The Destroyer so he's important to my story.

--It's got two all-new villains.

--It's a globe trotting adventure that takes place on four continents, and one of those is the one you'd least expect.

And that's all I'm going to tell you about the movie you're never going to see.

The Red Letter Day/Destroyer Connection

I mentioned here the other day that my latest Red Menace novel  began as a Destroyer. A bunch of years ago, back when we had to start thinking about a fifth Tor Remo, I came up with the idea to introduce a new Destroyer supervillain in a novella in an Assassin's Handbook 3. It was a flashback story that took place immediately after the events of one of the 1970s Destroyers, and the supervillain wasn't really in it...he had his hand in the events of the story, but only appeared at the very end. My plan was that Warren could release AH3 as an ebook at the same time the fifth Tor Destroyer was released, and that the supervillain only hinted at in AH3 would be featured prominently in the Tor book. None of that happened, obviously. It was too good an idea to let die, so I dusted it off when it came time to do The Red Menace #4. I had to toss out pretty much everything except the skeleton of the original Destroyer story; I hadn't realized how different The Red Menace was from The Destroyer until I tried banging the square peg into the round hole. Many of the same original story beats are still there, but I think only two or three scenes survived, and those were heavily rewritten. But I was able to take the idea of the supervillain who was to appear in the fifth Tor Destroyer, who never existed as more than a kernel of an idea in my head, and include him.

And now, as Paul Harvey said, you know -- more or less -- the rest of the story.

Destroyer movie treatment

I recently found my Destroyer movie treatment from a few years back. It's too bad the producers didn't even look at it (I suspect) and went out and found a couple of writers who knew nothing at all about the Destroyer to make a couple of failed passes at a screenplay. Several years on now, and they still have no movie. My story was a lot of fun and would have been great onscreen. One of these days I'm going to have to plunder it for something else, but it's a shame it never saw the light of day.