English-language remake eyes new director.
Deadline’s Mike Fleming is hearing word that ‘Evan Almighty’ and ‘Ace Ventura: Pet Detective’ director Tom Shadyac is the latest name linked to the director’s chair for the Hollywood remake of Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s award-winning French film ‘The Intouchables.’
Scripted by Paul Feig (‘Bridesmaids’), who was at one point attached to direct, the remake follows a wealthy aristocrat who, after being paralyzed in a hang-gliding accident, hires a young man from the projects to be his caretaker.
As previously reported, Colin Firth is circling the role of the aristocrat (played by Francois Cluzet in the original) with Chris Tucker being eyed to play the caretaker.
‘The Intouchables’ would mark Shadyac’s first time behind the camera for a narrative feature since 2007’s ‘Evan Almighty.’ After suffering post-concussion syndrome following a bicycle accident that left him hyper-sensitive to light and noise, the filmmaker changed his life dramatically. Reorienting and simplifying his life, Shadyac gave away his excess fortune, opened a homeless shelter in Virginia and made a key donation to Telluride, Colorado’s effort to set aside a natural area at the town’s entrance. In 2011, he wrote, directed and narrated ‘I Am,’ a documentary chronicling his personal journey.