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How will ‘Logan’s Run’ get remade?

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A ‘Logan’s Run’ remake is like Mark Twain’s weather -- everybody talks about one but nobody does anything about it. Since the 1990s, seemingly every third young director has given the Joel Silver-produced redo a whirl -- Bryan Singer, Skip Woods, Carl Rinsch, Joseph Kosinski...

But Nicolas Refn and Ryan Gosling, the ‘Drive’ pair currently taking a stab, believe they can crack it. Michael Anderson’s original is set in a society that mandates people die at 30. It centers on a character who’s charged with chasing down those who try to escape the age decree--but who then goes on the run himself.

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Gosling and Refn said the main challenge facing anyone trying to remake the 1976 cult hit is that its futurism needs to be completely scrapped.

’ ‘Logan’s Run’ is dated in the sense that everything came true,’ Refn told 24 Frames. ‘They’ve been trying to make it for years with the notion of just trying to remake the original movie. And it has to be rethought.’

Well, maybe not everything came true. But there’s enough about the film’s portrayal of technology and its general air of dread that can make it feel prescient.

Refn said it was worth the effort because the plot machinery of the original was so strong. ‘The premise of a society that decides to commit suicide is unique, and I think that’s why everyone still thinks it could work,’ the filmmaker said.

Gosling, who said he hadn’t seen the first film until Refn recommended it on the set of ‘Drive,’ added that he believes the group (he, Refn and screenwriter Will Beall) will do things other filmmakers didn’t try. ‘We’ll put together a team of futurists and artists and we’ll dream on this world,’ he said. Refn also notes that they’re not working in a vacuum: they have the advantage of several sequels to the William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson novel as well as a spinoff TV show.

There may be more than just creative challenges, though. Andrew Niccol’s upcoming film ‘In Time,’ starring Justin Timberlake and Olivia Wilde, traffics in the same conceit of a society where humans are not allowed to age past a certain point (there they can buy more time), which could complicate the greenlight bid from studio Warner Bros.

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And although Gosling could conceivably shoot the movie after he makes ‘Tales From the Gangster Squad’ this summer, don’t expect a new ‘Logan’s’ to be heading to multiplexes any time soon.

‘We’re still in the stage of trying to figure out the rules of the road,’ Refn said. Added Gosling: ‘Joel [Silver] said the other night, ‘Take your time and make it good. It doesn’t have to be ready at any point.’’ RELATED:

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As buzz builds for Drive, Ryan Gosling and Nicolas Refn contemplate a different genre

--Steven Zeitchik

twitter.com/ZeitchikLAT

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