By Filmmaker Renny Harlin’s iconic 1993 action thriller “Cliffhanger” is getting a sequel shortly, a project that Harlin himself isn’t involved in.
Mark Bianculli penned the new film which will see Sylvester Stallone reprising his role as the ranger Gabriel ‘Gabe’ Walker who is now living in the Dolomites where he runs an exclusive mountain lodge.
When Gabe and a high-profile client are taken hostage during an adventurous weekend trip, his daughter has to use all her climbing skills to outwit the kidnappers, triggering a battle of life and death.
Out promoting his new Aaron Eckhart-led action feature “The Bricklayer,” Harlin spoke with Coming Soon and was asked about the remake.
He says he actually spent years trying to get a sequel made, but it didn’t happen. Though he’s not clear on what is happening now, he does hope the film will stick to practical effects wherever possible:
“To be honest, I’ve tried for decades. I always felt the movie was hugely successful, and it was crazy that there wasn’t a sequel. There was more story to tell.
Now, of course, it’s a long time later, so I have no idea what kind of a story they are planning to tell or what Sly’s role in it is. But I wish them the best of luck.
I hope they don’t try to replace what we did with a lot of CG. Because I think the audience will be able to tell that we did everything for real.
We shot at 12,000-foot peaks in the Italian Alps. It was real stuff, like the opening sequence with the girl falling. It was done for real. That was at 8,000 feet, that wire.
It’s so easy for the studios to say now, ‘We’ll do everything blue screen and create everything digitally.’ I hope they don’t do that because it deserves a sequel with the same spirit of the original.”
Jean-Francois Richet will direct the project which is planning a summer shoot in Europe.
The post Harlin Talks That “Cliffhanger” Sequel appeared first on Dark Horizons.
