Cybersurfing: Anderson on remaking Death Race

This is a little late, but on Friday, the Los Angeles Times posted a feature article about DEATH RACE, the remake of the 1975 Roger Corman production. Corman, writer-director Paul W. S. Anderson, and stars Jason Stratharn and Joan Allen weigh in. Anderson explains what he wanted to achieve on a bigger budget:

“I always felt the [original] movie was hemmed in,” says Anderson, who first saw the film as a 13-year-old in Newcastle, England. “What stayed with me was this idea of killer cars that have been developed to run each other down. But some of the cars had machine guns mounted to them and they didn’t use them because of budgetary restrictions. I always wondered what would happen if those cars were really unleashed.”

 Corman, meanwhile, applauds Anderson’s take on the material:

“The original movie had a little more ironic humor, and this one is a much tougher, action film. This one is bigger and better,” says Corman, who applauds Anderson’s decision to have “almost no CGI shots. I think Paul was right to shoot everything naturally. You lose more of the insane, over-the-top stuff, but the trade-off is that you get realism.”

To some, the result may feel a bit more like George Miller’s THE ROAD WARRIOR, than the 1975 DEATH RACE directed by Paul Bartel. Anderson admist the influence:

“I wanted ‘Death Race’ to live up to the visceral thrills that I experienced watching ‘Road Warrior,’ ” says Anderson, who includes a homage to Miller’s film — a fortified, 18-wheel truck in full battle mode. “Except this time there’s not a guy in the back with a bow and arrow,” Anderson says. “He’s got a heavy machine gun and a flame thrower.”

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