2 Mar – News broke last month that the Frank Grillo-starring remake of Indonesian action movie "The Raid" has received a new title, it now goes by "Zeno". Writer Adam Simon recently provided further insight on why the movie underwent a title change and why it is now technically an original work instead of a remake. "The thing [director] Joe Carnahan, [star] Frank Grillo, and I saw eye to eye on from the jump, was that it wasn't a remake, it was a reimagining," Simon told ComicBook.com. "There is no need to redo something that has already been done exceptionally well." "When I started writing and sending pages over to Joe, it turned into something all its own. It became its own animal. Through that process, a story emerged.
"A tale about two brothers and an examination of why we can fight so viciously with the ones we care for most. It kept evolving that way from the first draft until the current draft we have now. "Zeno" is comparable to "The Raid" as "Die Hard" is to "Dredd"." Simon also explained that Zeno is an operator, one of the brothers, and is "broken at the top of the story". When he is forced to go back in for a mission, he has to dig deep to rediscover his will to fight. However, despite the departure story-wise, Simon said that fans who loved "The Raid" would still love "Zeno" as the latter retains the former's intense action.
Star Grillo and director Carnahan last month updated Collider on the status of their "The Raid" / "Zeno" project. "We own the script that we wrote," Grillo said. "We parted ways with XYZ [Films] who owns the title, but not the script. We are right now negotiating with a big name." "Just so there's a clarification. The version that I wrote – they don't ever intend to actually go in [to the building]. They think that they're gonna move this guy. So their whole operation is, 'we're gonna hit this guy in transit.' And it's not until they realize, 'oh they're digging in, they're not moving...we've gotta go in and get him"," Carnahan added. "It's a very, very different script. It's really, really about the [two] brothers. Zeno. That's what it's called. Which is the main character's name. That's what it's called right now." When the remake of "The Raid" was first announced in 2014, director Patrick Hughes was attached to helm Taylor Kitsch in the lead role. While now Grillo has replaced Kitsch and doesn't get to work with Hughes on the movie, he still got his chance to work with the director in the Ryan Reynolds and Samuel L. Jackson-starring "The Hitman's Bodyguard 2: The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard". "The Hitman's Bodyguard 2" is gunning for a 28 August 2020 release in North America. It will be one of Grillo's many big screen titles for this year, including "Boss Level" and "Once Upon a Time in Staten Island". His undated "Body Brokers" and No Man's Land" are also expected to be released this year. There is so far no release date set for "Zeno".