Sam Raimi to tackle The Shadow

[aTOMiC]

Okay. I’m not old enough to think of The Shadow with any nostalgia but I’d have to be pretty uninformed to not know who The Shadow is. I saw the 1994 Alec Baldwin version at the theatre. Most of what I know about the character comes from that film. It wasn’t terrible but then again it wasn’t X-Men II either. Oddly enough when I first saw Batman Begins I recalled some mild similarities to the beginning of that version of The Shadow. So now Sam Raimi has decided to devote his time to bringing the character back. His work on Spiderman is without question superior. He knows what a director must know in order to translate a fantastic character to the screen without making him seem silly. Can he do that with The Shadow? I just don’t know but I’ll be intrigued enough to see a new version in any case

www.comics2film.com/FanFrame.php?f_id=23578

[Usivius]

Yah, I felt really bad for Alec Baldwin. He is such a great actor and was wasted on such a terrible script and direction.

[The Laughing Man]

I have listened to The Shadow on NPR's old time radio theater program. Since thats where it originally started and ended, on radio, (not sure sure, but I don't think it ever made it onto a tv series?), I think it leaves alot of creative room in regard to that version in particular, but have to admit it will be regarded more closely in comparison with that movie than the original radio show. I know which one I'll be comparing, anyway.

[A Gunslinger]

. So now Sam Raimi has decided to devote his time to bringing the character back. His work on Spiderman is without question superior. He knows what a director must know in order to translate a fantastic character to the screen without making him seem silly. Can he do that with The Shadow? I

I am afraid to say that "only the shadow knows".

[sgt.null]

if done in the pulp style of the original it could be very good. if done as camp it will kill it.

[dANdeLION]

I have an issue or 2 of Mike Kaluta's Shadow comic from the '70's.




I agree that done like the original is the way to go.

[lucimay]

wow! beautiful cover!!!!! nice dAN.


i agree with all those above posts.

i too was sorry that baldwin didn't have more to work with on the aforementioned movie. this one is BOUND to be better.

it's freakin Sam evil dead 2 Raimi forgodsake.

[CovenantJr]

The beginning was always my favourite part of the Baldwin Shadow. I'd be up for seeing this new version, since I think the premise of the character is interesting.

[sgt.null]

wasn't there a Phantom movie as well?

so who would you all like to see cast as the lead?

[aTOMiC]

wasn't there a Phantom movie as well?

so who would you all like to see cast as the lead?

Yes.

and

Someone I'd barely heard of before but may recognize as a perfect choice upon seeing the film, ala Hugh Jackman or Toby McGuire in X-men and Spiderman respectively. I had never seen Jackman before and the only film I recognized Toby from was Pleasantville. I prefered being suprised that way.
I guess I can't think of an example of just who I'd want though.

[dANdeLION]

I saw Toby in Cider House Rules, of all things. I knew he was the right choice.

[lucimay]

Christian Bale?

no wait...

Bruce???

[danlo]

I was actually hoping at the time that Billy Zane was going to play The Shadow...instead he was The Phantom--he did a good job, it was a fairly good effort, if cheesy...

[peter]

Did this movie ever happan [could wikisearch it but can't be bothered ] I loved the book versions by Maxwell Grant but was horrified by that film with Alec Baldwin. The Shadow should never be the central charachter of a 'Shadow' story, be it film or whatever. That's what he is - the clues in the name - a shadow! He morphs and changes, appears and dissolves, slips in and out of the story that centers around some other people and is never what you expect or where you expect him to be.

[Hashi Lebwohl]

No, no new Shadow movie has materialized. The Baldwin movie wasn't that bad, all things considered--it was what it was, which was a decent homage to Golden Age comic books and serial dramas. Baldwin was the perfect choice for Cranston/Shadow--he had the right look and the right voice. I think they also brought the right kind of personal torment to the character, captured in the concise "I'm not afraid of you"/"But I am" interchange.

If someone did decide to do a Shadow movie I could see them bringing him into the modern era. The DC reboot in the mid-80s, originally sketched by Bill Seinkowicz then by Kyle Baker, used the plot device of the Shadow taking advantage of the highly advanced medical technology available in Shamballa to prolong his life--he was still only in his early 40s nearly 50 years after his original adventures.

Trivia time. The Shadow's real name is not Lamont Cranston--that is an identity he assumed to take advantage of Cranston's money. His real name is Kent Allard.

[peter]

The only contact {other than the film} I had with the Shadow was in the above mentioned books. He was un-named and was as I described him, a non-central [but still the most important] charachter in the storys. The name of Kent Allard is new to me Hasi and I'm guessing comes from the radio series in which the charachter made his [her?] first appearence. Or perhaps from the comic book portrayals of him that came later. The Maxwell Grant books were very good [imho] and embued the charachter with a 'mysterious distance' that was [for me] lost in the film. The books were somewhat similar to the Kenneth Robeson 'Doc Savage - Man of Bronze' in feel and I love the over the top stories of that era. Do you know of any other charachters of the same ilk I may have missed - they seemed to be very much an american phenomenon?

[Hashi Lebwohl]

You are correct--The Shadow started off in serial novels and then made the transition to radio, originally being voiced by Orson Welles himself. It is also true that both Lamont Cranston and, later, Kent Allard were added into Shadow lore via the radio show as his presumed and real identities, respectively.

It is interesting that you mention Doc Savage. Although my comic book collection is barely 10% of what it used to be in times past, I still have the entire Sienkewicz/Baker run and a four-part Shadow/Doc Savage crossover. The two characters instantly dislike each other because their methods are so different--Shadow thinks Savage is weak and Savage thinks Shadow is just another killer--but they received martial arts training from the same master and they both know that he would not teach a student who is unworthy of the knowledge.

I don't have much information on serial novel/pulp fiction characters other than when they jump over to movies from time to time, characters like Bulldog Drummond or Sam Spade, both of whom consider pitsol-whipping or knocking out a tooth as necessary and appropriate interrogation techniques.

I think DC still owns the comic book rights on The Shadow but they may have sold them to Dark Horse, which would be good news for that character. *shrug* I could be wrong, though. I do not know if there is a Shadow series currently being published. Sarge and dANdeLION would probably know, though.

[peter]

Interesting stuff Hashi - I woner where Maxwell Grant's books fit into the mix [ie were they the original texts or later stories written after the charachter had already been extant in serial and radio form]. Savage - Shadow crossover. Wow!

Drummond was a bastard. I started reading the Sapper books but gave up on the second in the 4 [?] book series. I didn't like the anti-semitism. Drummond belongs perhaps more to the Richard Hannay breed known as 'Clubland Heroes' than to the Savage/Shadow ouvre, but the paralells are definitey there. I'm guessing Drummond is fractionallly earlier [not long after Holmes really] - a 'between the wars' charachter where Savage et al may be a bit ater ww2.