The first bit of this 2-part story of crazy happenings is that, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Werner Herzog is gearing up to remake Abel Ferrara's gritty, NC-17-rated cult classic,Bad Lieutenant, and none other than Nicolas Cage is going to star. Production begins in July, with exec producer Avi Lerner promising it will deliver as much filth as the original. Apparently, Herzog’s wants his remake to update the time period and cop to a post-9/11 NYC. The original stars Harvey Keitel, and according to IMDB's description is about

"A police Lieutenant goes about his daily tasks of investigating homicides, but is more interested in pursuing his vices. He has accumulated a massive debt betting on baseball, and he keeps doubling to try to recover. His bookies are beginning to get agitated. The Lieutenant does copious amounts of drugs, cavorts with prostitutes, and uses his status to take advantage of teenage girls. While investigating a nun's rape, he begins to reflect on his lifestyle."


I have never seen the original Bad Lieutenant, although it is now on my list of 'must sees" I am interested in this film. I am a fan of Herzog (although this does seem like a random choice compared to his art film/serious/documentary type nature) and I am also a fan of Nic Cage who generally makes pretty enjoyable action flicks. I think they they could be on to something with this here although it seems to be upsetting quite a few fans of the original.

The second part of this crazy news fiasco is that Jan De Bont (Speed, Speed 2: Cruise Control, Twister, Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life,) is helming a new film: Point Break 2. That's right, you heard me. A sequel to the 1991 AWESOME film starring Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, and Gary Busey. It is apparently being written by W. Peter Iliff, scripter of the original film and will take place in Indonesia and according to IESB.net will feature a plot like this:

When Billy Dalton, military special ops and star surfer, is disqualified from the pro-surfing tour, he takes off for the coast of Bali looking for the perfect wave. While there he’s recruited by a private security force who are trying to find a gang known as The Bush Administration, surfing outlaws and modern day pirates who work like “The Ex-Presidents,” a bank robbing crew from Malibu twenty years ago.

Wow. I am a huge fan of the original, but this is looking like it could be a HUGE disaster. If they manage to get Keanu and Swayze (SPOILER: Busey can't come back, he kicks it in the first one) back on board, I will be there, but I'm not keeping my hopes up. This film has failure written all over it and all of the questions running through my head right now have an answer that is not a picture of me smiling.