Filmstalker: Del Toro to remake Tarzan?

According to reports, Warner Brothers are negotiating with Guillermo del Toro to create a new version of the classic Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan. They are also negotiating with John Collee, who wrote Master and Commander: Far Side of the World and Happy Feet, to write the screenplay version.

From the sounds of the story from Variety through Sci Fi Wire, Guillermo is rather keen to do it and it sounds far more like he is negotiating with WB for the work.

...grew up reading Spanish-language translations of Burroghs' books and feels that the classic themes are still compelling, the trade paper reported. Del Toro also sees that there is new ground to cover in the Tarzan mythology by turning back to the original Burroughs prose.

Well if anyone could bring Tarzan to life again it's him, but do we really need him resurrected? Haven't there been enough Tarzan's on the big and small screens? If you've read the Burroughs' version of Tarzan tell us why it needs to be brought to the screen, what's missing from all the films to date?

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There were a total of 24 Tarzan books. I didn't discover these until college and read them all several times. I love the storyline. The reason to bring Tarzan to the big screen again is that it has NEVER been done right. The reason not to do it is that I doubt it ever COULD be done right.

They always get some skinny runt to play Tarzan. Or it descends into something like a vehicle for Bo Derek's breasts. The guy who plays the adult Tarzan has to be huge and ripped. That means some bodybuilder type and those guys generally can't string two coherent sentences together let alone act.

Tarzan is actually John Clayton, Lord Greystoke. He is, by nature, an English gentleman and his breeding must shine through even the savagry of the apeman. Who is going to pull that off? Another bodybuilder? Yeah, right.

You must stay fairly true to the story like LOTR did. The idiots in Hollywood can't help but tamper with the story until it becomes ridiculous. Even LOTR screwed up Farimer royally.

I would love to see a genuine attempt at Tarzan. It would make for some fantastic action sequences if done right. He is an heroic and noble character and deserves to be acted accordingly. I just don't think anyone could do it.

Posted by: Conibear Trapp | December 15, 2006 2:16 PM

Thanks for that Conibear, it sounds like they'd have to get a strong actor first and then build him up for it. That's perfectly feasible to do, just might take a little while for them to get there.

Does anyone have any suggestions for the actor who could pull this off?

Posted by: Richard Brunton | December 15, 2006 4:47 PM

Count me in as someone else who would like to see a great Tarzan movie that was faithful to ERB's novel's. (I have read seven.)

In fact that most faithful version that I have seen was the 70's Filmation cartoon series and that was still far from an authentic adaption.

Posted by: Morbius | December 15, 2006 8:48 PM