Matthew Vaughn signed on to direct the “Flash Gordon” remake in 2015 and there’s kind of been radio silence since — now, the “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” director says he’s still developing the project but a recent blockbuster threw a monkey wrench into his idea.
“Yeah, we’ve been working on it,” he told Collider. “For me, the only problem with ‘Flash Gordon’ is ‘Guardians [of the Galaxy]’ kind of stole what I would have liked to have done with it.”
The filmmaker, whose credits include 2010’s “Kick-Ass” and 2011’s “X-Men: First Class,” said that it’s taking him a bit longer than he anticipated to figure out where he wants the story to go, given that space-themed movies have been done over and over again.
“You’ve got ‘Star Wars,’ you’ve got ‘Guardians,’ so you’ve got to have your own space opera, but you have to find something that can survive among these two very, very great franchises,” he added.
The director became attached to Fox’s remake of “Flash Gordon” in 2015. J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay wrote the latest script based on the comic-strip character created in 1934 by Alex Raymond.
John Davis and George Nolfi are producing the film.
[powergridprofile powerrank=”708″ node=”266739″ type=”person” path=”http://powergrid.thewrap.com/person/matthew-vaughn” title=”Matthew Vaughn” image=”matthew_vaughn”]
The story of Flash Gordon follows an adventurer who strives to save the planet Mongo from the clutches of his villainous nemesis Ming the Merciless.
“Flash Gordon” has been adapted into multiple formats, most recently as a live-action series on Syfy and most famously as a 1980 feature film starring Sam J. Jones.