‘Saturday Night Live’ Veteran Kenan Thompson Is Producing A ‘Sleepaway Camp’ Remake And A “Macho Man” Randy Savage Biopic
Sketch comedy vet and Saturday Night Live cast member Kenan Thompson is taking a turn into film producing very seriously. His next two projects have already been announced and they are eclectic choices for subject matter to say the least.
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First, per Bloody Disgusting, Thompson is planning to send moviegoers on another visit to Sleepaway Camp with the help of the original film’s creator, Robert Hiltzik. Thompson acquired the remake rights for his production company Artists for Artists, which was not easy.
Hiltzik has been tepid about signing over the rights to the slasher franchise he made famous, or rather infamous, for years. However, Thompson and his partner at AFA, Johnny Ryan, Jr., are letting Hiltzik pitch his tent how he wants, using his own script.
“I am both thrilled and humbled to be working with AFA on the reimagined Sleepaway Camp,” Hiltzik said via Deadline.
“Though I have been approached by several companies regarding the remake of Sleepaway Camp, only AFA has shared my vision and is excited to have me helm the film, therefore preserving the integrity of the original film for the fans, as well as introducing Sleepaway Camp to a whole new generation. Be prepared for a new member of the Sleepaway Camp family,” he added.
Thompson and Ryan, Jr., have been trying to lock down this property for 20 years. They consider themselves fans first and assure those eagerly following the progress of the new Sleepaway Camp that they are “staying true to the OG story while [is] Robert adding in some insane new twists.”
And that’s not all as a biopic about late wrestling icon “The Macho Man” Randy Savage is also on AFA’s docket. Deadline reports in an exclusive, “Artists for Artists, the production company of Kenan Thompson and Johnny Ryan Jr., is developing a feature biopic on iconic wrestler ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage, we can tell you first.”
Entitled Macho, Thompson has a personal connection to the project as someone who worked with Savage once during his Good Burger and All That days. This was also one of the hottest periods in wrestling, The Monday Night War, when Macho Madness was running wild in World Championship Wrestling.
“Beyond excited for this one!! Macho Man is hands down one of the greatest of all time and can’t wait to bring his story to the screen!!!” Thompson told Deadline.
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After the small role of Bonesaw McGraw in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man and a few appearances in TNA Wrestling, Savage, one of the biggest names of the 80s and 90s, retired from the ring and retreated from the spotlight. He passed away from a heart attack while driving in 2011.
The genesis of the Macho script arose with writer Eric Shapiro and Randy Savage’s brother “Leaping” Lanny Poffo who has also sadly passed on. Sleepaway Camp, which spawned four sequels, has one of the most notorious shock endings in horror history, but it is one that might get more backlash today than it did in the 80s.
Kenan Thompson is taking the Image Comics approach to business: letting creators have total input and final say in the direction of their stories. Full details regarding the Sleepaway Camp remake and Macho are scarce, but in the interim, Thompson is coming out with the horror comedy Halloween Store.
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