The idea to remake Troma's classic film, The Toxic Avenger, isn't a new one. In fact, it's been tossed around for nearly a decade now. At one point Arnold Schwarzenegger was involved, as well as Conrad Vernon, the director of Sausage Party.
I just so happens that Kevin Smith was offered the opportunity to helm the remake as he confirmed via Fatman on Batman. Read on for the full conversation.
Via Arrow In The Head:
“I don’t really deal in that world that much anymore, I don’t have to sit with people that are corporate and have interests to protect, like, I’m in the walrus movie phase of my career,” Smith began the story. “The last thing, and it wasn’t even a big deal, it wasn’t like ‘I’m outraged!’… somebody asked me, ‘Hey man, we’ve got THE TOXIC AVENGER and we’re gonna remake it, do a reboot, and hey, you’re from Jersey.’ And you know, I always kind of dug what Lloyd Kaufman and the Troma people do, it was right in Jersey, I remember seeing them on the news all the time – ‘Hollywood, motion pictures in New Jersey? Right here at Troma!’ And TOXIC AVENGER was insanely well known. So I always respected the Troma world and Toxie franchise. So I was like, all right, I’ll go down the rabbit hole a bit and see what’s what.”
He continued, “And we parted ways fundamentally on the budget, because I was just like, ‘Part of the charm of the TOXIC AVENGER is that it was made for two nickels. If you’re gonna do it again, don’t spend a lot of money.’ But they were like, ‘No no no, it’s a 35 million dollar movie.’ And I was like, ‘It’s a f*ckin’ remake of THE TOXIC AVENGER, the guy in a tutu with a bad makeup job, what are we gonna spend all the money on?’ So right then and there, I’m clearly not on the same page. In my head, if I need to see a TOXIC AVENGER remake, it should be done in the spirit of the original. Instead, they were literally trying to start a franchise, Marvel-ize it and stuff like that. And I’m like, ‘I don’t know if you guys saw that movie.’ So I just quietly stepped away. I understand what they were going for, but I would never want to see that version of the movie. It would be like somebody doing a 35 million dollar version of CLERKS. Why would you bother?”
The future of the remake is unknown and honestly I don't really want it to happen because I hold the series near and dear to my heart and don't wish to see it as a blockbuster film.