Greg Kinnear is reportedly circling the lead role in the upcoming European remake of War of the Worlds.
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The remake hails from Fox Networks Group of Europe and Africa. The report comes from Deadline, which says Kinnear has been considering the script. The series is written by Misfits creator Howard Overman. So far, no deal in place.
Kinnear is coming off of a role in the sixth and final season of Netflix’s House of Cards. Signing an actor as recognizable as Kinnear would be a big get for the project, which is only Fox Networks Group’s second original commission. Its first was Deep State, a British espionage thriller that aired earlier this year.
The War of the Worlds remake is co-produced by France’s Canal+ and produced Overman’s Urban Myth Films.
The project is currently in pre-production. Deadline’s sources say the project will be in full swing next year.
The remake will be a modern-day retelling of HG Well’s science fiction classic about a Martian invasion of Earth.
It will air on Canal+ in France and on Fox in 50 European and African territories. Studiocanal will handle international distribution. Overman and his Urban Myth Films partners Johnny Caps and Julian Murphy will executive produce.
BBC is set to launch its own take on War of the Worlds. Its version features Rafe Spall from The Big Short and Elanor Tomlinson from Poldark. It is produced by Mammoth Screen, Trainspotting‘s Robert Carlyle, and Sherlock‘s Rupert Graves. Rather than a modern retelling, BBC’s version will be set in Edwardian England.
Wells originally published War of the Worlds as a serialized novel in Pearson’s Magazine in the UK and Cosmopolitan in the United States. It was collected into a hardcover edition in 1898. It was further popularized by Orson Well’s radio drama adaptation of the story. When the drama aired on CBS Radio on Halloween in 1938, some listeners mistook it for an actual news broadcast.
The story was first adapted into a film in 1953, as directed by George Pal. Steven Spielberg directed a modernized blockbuster remake starring Tom Cruise in 2005.
Would you like to see Greg Kinnear in a War of the Worlds remake? Let us know what you think in the comments section!
