Despite walking away from the chance to direct Conan, Brett Ratner has been offered the chance to direct an untitled Hercules film. Hercules is one of the best known demigods from Greek mythology; he is the son of Zeus and possesses great strength. There has been no formal arrangement but producer Avi Lerner has put the offer on the table.
One of the most famous stories is when the goddess Hera sent Hercules (or Heracles in Greek) into a blind frenzy where he killed his wife and children. To atone for his sin Hercules is sent on series of dangerous tasks, usually resulting in the killing fo wild beasts and creatures known as the Labors of Hercules.
Hercules has been a popular character for mass media, making appearances in Jason and the Argonauts, Disney’s Hercules, the TV series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s infamous debut Hercules in New York. Classical stories are also in vogue right, with 300, Clash of the Titans and Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Theft having been released in cinemas in recent years and Spartacus: Blood and Sand being a hit on television. So there isn’t a better time to do make a film about Greek or Roman mythology.
If you are excited about this project there are some issues to consider, namely that Ratner has attached himself to numerous projects but does not do anything about them, the most notable being Beverly Hills Cop IV which has yet to make much progress. He is meant to be directing a comedy heist film staring Ben Stiller and producing a Snow White film.
To top it all off he is disliked by fan-boys, having made X-Men: The Last Stand where he shows he had no understanding why X-Men was great, taking away the substance and replacing it with mindless action. He also made the weakest of the Hannibal Lecter films, Red Dragon, and flogged a dead horse with the Rush Hour series, particularly the awful Rush Hour 3, his most recent film, which was insulting for so many reasons. He has also been loosing respect from producers and film-fans for suggesting in interviews he wants to direct an X-Men spin-off about Storm and a Joker spin-off starring Robert Downey Jr. after the success of The Dark Knight. He also wanted to direct The Hobbit which was quickly dismissed by that film’s producers.
I personally do not hold out much hope for a Ratner film, but you never know. I did not think the Ratner-produced The Karate Kid was going to be good and I was pleasantly surprised.
