Elijah Wood Is The Killer In MANIAC Remake!

[Shawn Francis Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Shawn Francis]

DEADLINE: Elijah Wood has been just set for the lead role in Maniac, and believe me, Frodo is a long way from the Shire in this one. In the indie that will be directed by Franck Khalfoun and produced by Alexandre Aja and Gregory Lavasseur, Wood plays the role of a serial killer who works at a shop that sells antique mannequins. He finds victims on the Internet and stalks them like prey, all the while suffering from hallucinations that throw him back into the past, when he was abused by his own mother. In his twisted mind, he gains a measure of revenge against his mother with each kill. It will shoot later this year.

This isn't the first deranged killer role for Wood, who played the creepy cannibal Kevin in Sin City. Wood has been working up a storm, in the upcomingHappy Feet 2, the indie Celeste and Jesse, Sky TV's Treasure Island, and, of course, he reprises his signature role inThe Hobbit. Wood also reprises his starring role in the series Wilfred, which begins production early next year. He's repped by Brillstein Partners and WME.

[Jimmy Simard Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jimmy Simard]

Seriously
It's probably a record for how long it took to lost any interest in a project. Just 3 words in the subject of your post were enough...

[Todd Jordan Smut is good. Find all posts View Profile Close Todd Jordan]

I don't mind him. I like him in Wilfred.

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

Now it's not even Maniac. It's just a serial killer flick.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

You know what? He was pretty fucking good as that creepy little serial killer dude in Sin City. This is a strange casting choice, he doesn't remind anyone of Spinnell at all I'm sure, but it might not be a complete disaster. I'd imagine they're going for a pretty different approach than Lustig did, I mean they'd have to. The NYC that the original took place in doesn't even exist anymore, there's no way that they'll be able to capture that level of pure sleaze - but Wood might not be the worst choice for this.

[Todd Jordan Smut is good. Find all posts View Profile Close Todd Jordan]

They could attempt to recreate the sleaziness. But they won't. Instead they'll go the route of making everything look green like in so many other shit horror movies. I wonder if they'll even tout it as a horror film or as a psychological thriller. And it's so wonderful that'll they give us flashback crud to give a reason why he's so deranged. Because us audience peoples is so stupid and need everything spelled out for us and can't possibly watch the movie without all the explanation. He's a maniac. We don't need to know why. All we need to know is that he kills people and is the sleaziest of slime balls. Now show us how horrible he is and then let us watch him get his just deserts. Thanks.

[Terry C Tiger Fists Find all posts View Profile Close Terry C]

I'm sure he's channeling this by rubbing his dead moms wet panties on his chest for about an hour.

[Shawn Francis Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Shawn Francis]

SHOCK TILL YOU DROP: If one was to go about remaking William Lustig's Maniac, one would have find a unique approach to the story, after all, we've seen many imitators over the last 30 years on television and in film. Maybe not blatant copycats, but there have certainly been similar onscreen creeps.

Director Franck Khalfoun and producers Aja and Gregory Lavasseu - the team behind the upcoming Maniac redo - seem to have angle.

Besides the unconventional casting of Elijah Wood, as the "maniac," rumor has it that all of the killer's scenes will be shot in POV.

Badass Digest broke the scoop, first reporting that the entire film would be shot in POV, but their story was corrected (someone on the inside must have reached out to clarify) to state that the POV technique would only appear during the killer's moments.

Wood would only be seen in reflections.

POV has been a staple of the genre, of course, putting the audience in the killer's shoes. Peeping Tom, Halloween, Black Christmas are benchmark films utilizing the technique.

Given the grotesque nature with which the maniac of Maniac does his business, this could get particularly nasty...

[Todd Jordan Smut is good. Find all posts View Profile Close Todd Jordan]

this could get particularly nasty

It won't have the sleaze factor I'll bet. Sleaze is so vital to Maniac's appeal. Nasty or not, without the sleaze, they may as well not bother. Which they shouldn't anyway, but that's beside the point.

[Toyboy like a hole in the head Find all posts View Profile Close Toyboy]

The murders will be shot POV?!?! Get out of town!!! What a concept.

[Paul Casey Frito Bandito Find all posts View Profile Close Paul Casey]

The murders will be shot POV?!?! Get out of town!!! What a concept.

This way, they won't have to pay Frodo for those scenes.

[Shawn Francis Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Shawn Francis]

SHOCK TILL YOU DROP: Now We Know Who is Doing the FX for Maniac

By the power of Joe Spinell's ghost! Is the Maniac remake moving fast or what?

From the KNB EFX Facebook page came this:

"So on the two newest films we started to work on; one has seven psychopaths and the other one maniac. :)"

The first film mentioned, Seven Psychopaths, is an action-comedy with Colin Farrell, but KNB unmistakably referenced the upcoming Franck Khalfoun-directed horror remake here. So now we know who's on board the gory effects. Tom Savini handled the gut-churning gross-out gags in William Lustig's original film.

Given this is an Alex Aja production, it makes sense KNB is on board. The company worked on Aja's The Hills Have Eyes and Piranah 3D.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Twitch got a cool scoop, some pictures of Mr. Wood in action here.

[Toyboy like a hole in the head Find all posts View Profile Close Toyboy]

You know how they snagged Frodo for this? Dexter. They told him this is gonna be like Dexter.

[Todd Jordan Smut is good. Find all posts View Profile Close Todd Jordan]

Dexter only kills bad peoples. Froxter kills skanks.