Oscar-nominated Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained actor Samuel L. Jackson will star in a remake of the 1958 horror film The Blob, according to an announcement made this week by by movie production/distribution/financier Goldcrest Films. Jackson will play “a biochemistry professor attempting to thwart the other-worldly predator discovered deep within the earth.”
Set to be directed by Con Air and The Expendables 2 filmmaker Simon West, the movie will once again pit its human characters against a seemingly unstoppable creature that consumes its victims and grows larger — and more dangerous — with every meal.
Jack Harris, the producer of the original 1958 film, will serve as one of the producers of the remake. Chris Haney, who served as a technical supervisor for visual effects on The Avengers and worked on the visual effects teams for Avatar, Wanted, and 300 (among other films) will supervise the visual effects for the project.
“I have been waiting to work with Samuel L. Jackson my whole career,” said West in a statement accompanying the casting announcement. “He is a unique talent in the industry, definitely one of a kind. I am so pleased that we will finally get to collaborate on this project.”
The original 1958 film was notable for providing the big-screen debut of Steve McQueen, who played the male lead in the film. Its surprising success at the box office — raking in more than $4 million — led to a subsequent, less-successful 1972 sequel directed by Dallas star Larry Hagman.
A 1988 remake directed by Chuck Russell (A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, The Mask) and co-written by Russell and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Walking Dead) cast Kevin Dillon and Shawnee Smith in the lead roles. That film grossed just over $8 million.
