Eric Zala and Chris Strompolos are two of the three guys who famously spent seven years in the 1980s making a shot-for-shot remake of Raiders of the Lost Ark. While it’s their biggest claim to fame so far, they’ve spent the last few years writing a new action adventure script, What The River Takes, that they’re shopping around Hollywood. Now Vanity Fair has unveiled a bit of what they have in mind for their next flick.
Strompolis told the magazine’s website:
“It’s a combination of everything Eric and I want to put in this next movie. It’s everything about Mississippi we love-a lot of sensual backdrops and landscapes and cultural nuances-but it’s also pulling from our cinematical love, which of course includes Indiana Jones and classic adventure movies and fantasy. When we set off to write this thing, we used the very standard Joseph Campbell hero-cycle blueprint.”
For more cool art showing what the movie could look like, check out the article.
The Raiders Boys (as they’re often referred to, despite the fact that they’re now in their Thirties) spent their teen years remaking the first Indiana Jones movie; the resulting flick was so cool that Steven Spielberg gave it his blessing when horror meister Eli Roth gave him a bootleg copy years later.
Since then, the trio of fan filmmakers have sold their life stories to mega-producer Scott Rudin for a six-figure sum, and comic book legend Daniel Clowes has written a script all about how they made their impressive indie Indy flick.
And, of course, the greatest honor of all that they’ve received is that they have their own chapter in the upcoming book on the history and future of fan films, (OK, maybe six-figures for your life story is better—it’s almost enough to buy a tank of gas these days).
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