Johnny Weissmuller striking some poses that show why he got the role of Tarzan (hint: it wasn’t his acting).
Variety reports that Stephen Sommers is in talks to direct and co-write a new film based on Edgar Rice Burroughs classic novel, Tarzan. This will be the eight kazillionth adaptation of Burroughs’s book.
Warner Brothers and Jerry Weintraub will produce. They’ve been trying to get this project going since 2003. John August was originally attached to write and at one point, Guillermo del Toro was up for directing duties. Now THAT would have been interesting.
Sommers just finished directing GI Joe. He would write the Tarzan script with Stuart Beattie, who also worked on the GI Joe script.
Let’s see…what other Tarzan adaptations have there been? Well, there was the mildly successful Disney animated version a few years ago, which was turned into the dud Broadway musical. Then there was Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984), which Christopher Lambert survived to carve out his nice little Highlander career. And who can forget Tarzan, the Ape Man (1981), starring Bo Derek as Jane?
The most famous version of Tarzan is probably still the series of films starting in 1932 starring swimming champ Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O’Sullivan. Weissmuller played Tarzan in twelve films, the last appearing in 1948. The main purpose of these films–and the main reason for the popularity of them–seemed to be the amount of time the studios could get Tarzan and Jane down to as little clothes as possible. Swimming sequences were a nifty way to push the envelope with the censors of the day. See? Even way back in the 1930s, audiences liked to watch pretty almost naked people. It’s kind of sweet how human nature never really changes, isn’t it?
Who would play Tarzan now? Well, there plenty of pretty bland young men on shows like Gossip Girl or the High School Musical movies. But I vote they go crazy offbeat and eschew the hunk of the month club. Here’s my suggestion: Jamie Bell. Come on! Go for it Warners!
