‘Red Sonja’ Screenwriter Tasha Huo Says Upcoming Film Will Feature Stories Of “Great Female Friendship”, Explore “How Women Uniquely Survive Out In The World”
Spencer Baculi
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Another day, another classic IP seemingly set to have its identity ruined by the typical pitfalls of modern storytelling, this time as upcoming Red Sonja screenwriter Tasha Huo has revealed that the ‘female experience’ will be a central focus of the red-headed warrior’s upcoming live-action return to the silver screen.
RELATED: ‘Red Sonja’ Ditches Race-Swap, Casts Matilda Lutz As Title Heroine Under ‘Solomon Kane’ Director
Huo, whose only completed Hollywood script writing credits to date are four episodes of Netflix’s The Witcher: Blood Origin miniseries, offered this insight into the iconic fantasy heroine’s next adventure while speaking to Variety in honor of her being ranked fifth on the 2023 entry of their annual 10 Screenwriters to Watch list.
Speaking to her career focus on adaptations vs original works – in addition to The Witcher: Blood Origin and Red Sonja, Huo is also attached as a writer on the upcoming Naruto live-action film Netflix’s Tomb Raider animated series – the screenwriter told the outlet, “Adapting iconic characters or IP makes the writing of it easier, because the passion for writing it is already there.”
“I’m so inspired by these characters already that it’s exciting to just take a part of their journey and try to tell that fun story in a way that would appeal to me as a fan,” she added.
Turning to Red Sonja specifically, Huo then revealed that she felt the IP provided “great vehicle for telling big themes about human nature within the spectacle.”
Further, she ‘promised’ – a wording choice specifically used by Variety – that the film would provide audiences with both stories of “great female friendship” as well as a glimpse into “how women uniquely survive out in the world”.
Directed by Solomon Kane (2009) and Silent Hill: Revelation director M.J. Bassett, who replaced previously attached directors Joey Soloway and Bryan Singer role following their respective exits for reasons currently unknown and accusations of underage sexual assault, and starring Magpie actress Matilda Lutz as the titular heroine and The Umbrella Academy actor Robert Sheehan as her nemesis Dragan the Magnificant, Red Sonja is reportedly well into its post-production process.
Speaking to the film’s progress during an October interview with Collider, producer Les Weldonrevealed, “We’re just about finished with the editing.”
“That film is very rooted and very real if you will, but there are a couple of sequences that we have to get the CGI right so that you don’t look at it and go, ‘Oh, that creature wasn’t quite there,'” she explained.”So we finished the film, and we’re ready to get into the next part of post on it.”
To this end, the director then detailed, “Well, Red Sonja (2024) is also a little bit of a, I don’t wanna say a darker take, but a little bit darker take than you would expect, certainly compared to the original Red Sonja (1985). We want to be very careful with the CG to make sure it’s done properly and does the film a service rather than a disservice.”
Produced by Millenium Media and based on Dynamite Comics’ interpretation of the titular heroine rather than Marvel Comics’, Red Sonja is currently on track to hack its way into theaters sometime in 2024.
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