carl rinsch

When Breck Eisner (Sahara) stepped away from Universal's planned Creature from the Black Lagoon remake, it looked like the project was (wait for it, wait for it) dead in the water. Now the LA Times reports that Creature is back on Universal's slate with Carl Rinsch directing.

Rinsch was the director attached to the Alien prequel earlier this year before Ridley Scott decided to take over that project. He's currently at work on 47 Ronin, a samurai action film, also at Universal. Eisner would've been working on a screenplay from Gary Ross (Seabiscuit), but it looks like Universal will be starting from scratch on the project now that Rinsch is onboard. Eisner is moving on to another remake, David Cronenberg's 1979 creep-out The Brood.

I like that Universal seems to have an active interest in revitalizing their Universal Monsters brand. We've got The Wolfman coming out in a couple of months, and even the highly publicized production problems on that film haven't stopped Universal from moving forward with a new Bride of Frankenstein movie and renewed momentum on Creature. There's no word on whether or not the Creature remake will be in 3-D like the original film was.

[Welcome to the Sci-Fi Lunch Break, where we'll be supplying you with a cool bit of audio/visual goodness to break up the monotony of the work day. You bring the turkey on rye, we'll bring you something out of this world to watch while you eat it.]

Word came out yesterday that commercial director Carl Rinsch was set to jump to feature films with 47 Ronin, a samurai revenge film starring Keanu Reeves. I was only passingly familiar with the director's name, but a YouTube search turned up a wide swath of the man's very sci-fi friendly advertising work, and I must say I am in love with his love for robots. Doesn't matter if the product is a sneaker or a beer keg, Rinsch will apparently find some way to involve robots.

You may not know the name, but you'll probably recognize his Evolution of Technology commercial, which showcases centuries of evolution by trading in flesh and blood for metal and motors.

Not long after 20th Century Fox announced they'd be making an Alien prequel, word got out that producer (and Alien director) Ridley Scott had assigned newbie Carl Rinsch to direct what could potentially be a very big film. Rinsch is a commercial director with RSA Films (Scott's company) who specializes in a sort of futuristic style (watch his Saturn commercial here). At the time I thought it'd be a strange move for Fox to hand what could potentially be a franchise reboot (even though they're calling it a "prequel" as to not piss off fans) to an unknown director -- one who, sources say, is also dating Ridley Scott's daughter. Hmmm ...

Well according to Entertainment Weekly (via The Playlist), Fox is definitely thinking long and hard about this one, and they apparently want Ridley Scott to direct the film himself. Also, they might stick to their guns on this and not make the film at all unless Ridley returns to the franchise. Fans, of course, will probably side with Fox on this one -- I know I'd kinda love to see a new Alien prequel from Ridley Scott, especially one that went back to the franchise's earlier roots and focused on one single alien onboard a ship.

This whole thing sort of reminds me of when the studios ditched the planned Halo film when Peter Jackson wanted to put his apprentice Neill Blomkamp on as director. Outcome: The movie was never made, though Blomkamp wound up directing the very cool looking District 9, due out later this summer.

Discuss: Would you be down with an Alien prequel regardless of who directs it? Or must it be Ridley?