Prisoner Carton.inddIn a world where movie to television series remakes have become all the rage, director Ridley Scott wants to head in reverse and bring the 60s TV series ‘The Prisoner’ to the big screen as a feature length film. The series is a British cult classic that looks to be the first project the famed director will tackle when he completes ‘Alien: Covenant‘. With how quickly he jumped into preproduction on his follow up to ‘Prometheus‘ after finishing up ‘The Martian,’ it would seem that Scott is on a mission to make as many movies as he can these days. While I always love his movies, even the much complained about ‘Prometheus’, the idea of another dreaded remake doesn’t have me thrilled.

Scott is currently in final negotiations with Universal. Bluegrass Films’ Scott Stuber and Dylan Clark are currently on board to produce and chances are high that Ridley’s Scott Free films would be joining them if he decides to take on the project. Chris McQuarrie (‘Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation’) previously worked on the script and the latest draft that we know of was finished up by William Monahan (‘The Departed’).

‘The Prisoner’ originally aired from 1967 to 1968 for a 17 episode run. The story revolved around a British government agent whose name we never learn that was played by Patrick McGoohan. After leaving his job with no notice with a plan to leave the UK, he is kidnapped and imprisoned in a village by the sea. Everyone is monitored at all time and anyone who tries to leave are recaptured or killed. Not only that, but they are also watching one another.

A remake of the series was released in 2009 by AMC which starred both Jim Caviezel and Ian McKellen. With those names and the history of the series in mind, I’d love to see Hugh Laurie in the lead role and think he would be absolutely perfect for it.

Are you interested in seeing a big screen adaptation of ‘The Prisoner’? Do you think they can do the series justice in a single one and a half to two hour film? Share your thoughts below!

Source: Slash Film