WB’s Tarzan Showing Exciting Signs of Life: The Extraordinary Christoph Waltz Eyed for the Villain

Michael Sellers A1, Tarzan, Tarzan of the Apes, The Tarzan Files, WB's Tarzan

Variety and other entertainment outlets are reporting that the thoroughly amazing Christoph Waltz is in talks to play the villain in WB’s Tarzan, which had been slated to go into production this summer with David Yates at the helm, but as been pushed back.  Many of us had feared that the delay was really the beginning of the end for the project — that it would never get back up on the rails.  So this is a very welcome sign, first of all simply because WB is in active talks trying to get the cast in place — and second of all because Waltz is one of the very, very best actors on the planet and his participation would, among other things, help attract other top drawer participants — not to mention contribute to making the film itself great when all is said and done.

For anyone who needs a primer on Waltz, his Wikipedia page starts out like this:

Christoph Waltz  (born 4 October 1956 in Vienna) is an Austrian and German actor.Internationally, he is best known for his works with American filmmaker Quentin Tarantino. He received acclaim for his supporting roles as SS-Colonel Hans Landa in Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds (2009) and bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz in Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012). For each performance, Waltz won an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Additionally, he received the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival and a Screen Actors Guild Award for his portrayal of Landa.

Everyone in Hollywood is completely bedazzled by his talent.  It would elevate the film for him to be in it.

According to Variety: “Jesse Ehrman will oversee for Warner Bros.  The studio is still awaiting a greenlight, which some say may come in November with a summer start date. Still, Warners wants to begin packaging a cast to present to the greenlight committee. Yates is also taking meetings with actresses to would play Jane.  Sources say “Focus” star Margot Robbie and Emma Stone (UPDATE: sources close to Stone have since said the actress recently passed on the part) are among the actresses being considered but there are no contract talks on that front.”

All of this is good news.  (Even the fact that Emma Stone has passed — she’s great, but not my idea of Jane.)

There is reason for hope!

If this really gets up and moving maybe we’ll launch The Tarzan Files! 😉

(And thanks to Barsoom Bob for mentioning this in a comment …. I had been on another wavelength all day and had not seen the articles until I saw his comment. Thanks.)

 
Here are two Christoph Waltz clips from Inglorious Bastards — what a delight!

6 comments

  • Color me skeptical. Hollywood has never done ERB’s version of Tarzan faithfully although Sy Weintraub did try.

  • And with Jamie Foxx eyed for Tarzan’s buddy, it could be a fine Django reunion! But I won’t hold any hope that the movie will be related in any way to Burroughs’ novels though. Tarzan has already been transformed too far from his origins in the public eye, and I don’t think Warner would invest any money in a revolutionary take on the character.

  • Hopefully they will do it properly for once. I am yet to see anyone do ERB justice other than with “John Carter.” It’s not rocket science. They just need to follow the novel ‘Tarzan of the Apes’ closely and match up the actors to the characters faithfully. Henry Cavill could make a good Tarzan/Greystoke (would be good as Ryan Davidson also..). Waltz could be a good choice as Nikolas Rokoff assuming they will do the stories of book 1 and 2 (“The Return of Tarzan”) together…

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