Live-Action Hercules Gets Disappointing Update from Russo Brothers

It sounds like maybe this movie isn't happening anytime soon.

By Russ Burlingame

It has been about four years since Joe and Anthony Russo started developing a live-action version of Disney's Hercules. The fantasy film, which was announced in 2020, is apparently still mired in development hell, though. Speaking recently with Total Film, the duo had some bad news for fans of the Disney animated classic: the live-action adaptation still doesn't have a script. That's a big change from their last major update, which was in 2021, when that script was supposed to come in "about a week." The pair are not expected to direct the movie, but to produce it through their AGBO label with Disney as the production and distribution studio.

Of course, it's possible that the reason they're waiting on a script has to do with the choice of director. Guy Ritchie, who not only has a select group of writers and actors he likes to work with, but who has also been making a ton of movies lately, is set to direct Hercules. It's hard to argue with him as a solid choice for the movie.

"Waiting on a script" is all fans get out of the interview, which took place at the Sands: International Film Festival in St Andrews, Scotland.

Disney's Hercules was a loose adaptation of the mythical life of the Greek demigod. Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, Hercules centers on "Hercules (Tate Donovan), a son of gods, was snatched as a baby by Hades (James Woods) and forced to live among mortals as a half-man, half-god. Now a teenager, Hercules needs to perform a rite of passage on Earth to prove himself worthy of living with the gods on Mount Olympus. With his plucky satyr sidekick, Philoctetes (Danny DeVito), along for the ride, Hercules must learn how to use his strength to defeat a series of evil creatures."

It is not immediately clear how closely the live-action reimagining will hew to the animated movie. There was a lot of lore built up in Hercules's own spinoff TV show, which could theoretically be mined to keep hardcore fans happy even if, like Mulan, more cartoonish elements of the story are omitted from the live-action version.

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Of course, that didn't work out great for Mulan, so it could be Disney and the Russos are going to move back the other way.

"I think you always have to bring something new to the table because from our perspective as storytellers, it's not compelling for us to do a literal translation. We've already done that with our Marvel films," Anthony Russo said in 2021. "We don't do literal translations of the comics because we feel like if you want that story you can go read that story. We're going to give you a different story. I think we'll do something that's in the vein of the original and inspired by it, but we also bring some new elements to the table."

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