Did you know the legendary Sam Raimi almost directed The Fly 2? I feel like this seemingly monumental snippet of horror movie trivia has been buried and unknown to the masses, much like the film itself as it failed commercially to uphold the standards of the Cronenberg predecessor masterpiece remake. A few years ago, an episode of Post Mortem with Mick Garris Podcast unhatched this bit of knowledge to the horror community; and I just want to remind you that we almost had a Dr. Strange/ Evil Dead Brundlefly Jr. national treasure.
Godammit that would have been THEE TITS.
Mick Garris, the writer who penned, in what is my humble opinion, the sequel to Cronenberg’s classic take which stands as a true master achievement in the horror genre and quite possibly the greatest horror movie remake of all time, had a lot to live up to following in those kinds of footsteps. While I personally don’t think the film is all bad as some would say, the premise of Martin Brundle as the result of what happens when you infuse Brundlefly with Geena Davis isn’t quite as enthralling and just doesn’t bear within the type of raw emotion and certain magic from the 1986 flick. Although I will say. Martinfly love for animals is kind of the sweetest thing ever.
Could the movie have been better with Evil Dead‘s Sam Raimi overseeing the film in the director’s chair? Mick Garris, in said podcast episode, stated that Raimi was indeed slated to direct the film and that it was originally VERY DIFFERENT. Here’s what Garris said according to the podcast:
“When I was writing Fly 2, originally Sam Raimi was going to direct it, on the strength of Evil Dead 2. It would’ve been a VERY different movie. Then [Sam] and his brother wrote a different treatment that went way out to cloud wacky land, and that would’ve been amazing. But it didn’t work out, but it was a great experience to meet him.”
I can’t help but wonder what kind of movie Sam Raimi could have brought us, and exactly what was it about this crazy different vision of Raimi’s The Fly 2 that scared the shit out of 20th Century Fox? Well, maybe we’ll never know but perhaps it was to coincide with an early draft of the film that involved a sort of X-MEN-type story where Veronica was convinced not to abort her baby by a religious cult who would keep and raise Martin after he was born and raised with a group of kids with their own unique abilities or deformities; Note Martin’s would have been that he could communicate with insects. Another draft included Bartok scientists using cloning technology to resurrect Seth Brundle in Brundlefly form and that his young son Martin was able to communicate with him.
Both of those sequel ideas sound incredibly bonkers and I’m here for it, especially with a Garris/Raimi treatment.
What could have been folks. Well anyway, if you feel like reliving the weird sequel that makes me cry more than horrify (the animal scenes are a hard watch for me), then you can pick up the Blu-Ray here.
