Whenever I think of “The Three Musketeers,” I hear in my head the 1993 ballad “All For Love.” That song, written by Bryan Adams and sung by Adams, Rod Stewart and Sting, was part of Disney’s plan to bring Alexandre Dumas’ classic tale of 17th century bodyguard buddies to the MTV generation. Another way of updating the story for a hip, young audience was to cast hot actors like Kiefer Sutherland and Charlie Sheen as the legendary heroes in order to make the film like a “Young Guns” for the swashbuckling genre.
17 years later, I wonder what it will take for Hollywood to translate Dumas for the kids, many of whom may think a movie titled “The Three Musketeers” is based on a candy bar (movies are based on all kinds of things these days, after all). One of the people who wants to give it a try is producer Lionel Wigram, who just did the same kind of thing with “Sherlock Holmes.” According to Variety, Wigram is tailoring a new version of “Musketeers” for a young audience by focusing on action and sex.
On board to write the adaptation is Peter Straughan, who recently gave us the George Clooney comedy “The Men Who Stare At Goats.” Neither that film nor the Straughan-penned adaptation of “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People” were very successful at the box office, so it’s easy to doubt the screenwriter’s ability to tap into what a mainstream audience might look for in an adventure set in late-Renaissance France.
As we’ve seen with both “Sherlock Holmes” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, the clearest way for a new “Three Musketeers” to succeed is to feature an actor whose performance transcends the period piece aesthetic. Merely going for a modern filmmaking style (fast cuts, sped-up action), contemporary music and a Teen Beat-friendly cast isn’t really enough. Maybe the role of d’Artagnan can be filled in by a pretty boy actor-du-jour, but Wigram at least needs an equivalent of Robert Downey Jr. or Johnny Depp filling out the Musketeers.
Depp, interestingly enough, was set to star in a “Three Musketeers” film back in the early 90s, but the adaptation was scrapped when the Disney version beat it to theaters. Wigram’s version also has a rival production. Last fall, we learned that “Resident Evil” director Paul W.S. Anderson is making a 3-D movie based on the Dumas novel.
It will be interesting to see which, if either, of the dueling “Three Musketeers” is a hit. Wigram and Warner Bros. are of course hoping for a franchise with their film — Dumas wrote two more books featuring the same characters. But the appeal and profitability of 3-D right now may make Anderson’s version the “one for all” in terms of box office success.
What would you look for in a “Three Musketeers” movie? Do you want more action and sex, 3-D action or a great central performance from someone like Johnny Depp?
As far as I know, there is no completely faithful film adaptation of Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Therefore it’s not surprising to learn, via Variety, of yet another big screen version in the works that will play loose with the plot. However, even without knowing many details of this new project, which is being set up at Paramount under producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers), I’m having difficulty with the thing being called an “action/comedy.” 
Last year, Sherlock Holmes had barely begun filming before rumors swirled that a really big actor would be making a cameo as Professor Moriarty. 
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