THE NIGHT STALKER: Depp to Star, D.V. DeVincentis to Write

Now that he's got Dark Shadows out of his system, Johnny Depp is moving forward with the reboot of the Darren McGavin TV movies/series, The Night Stalker, with Edgar Wright as director and newly hired D.V. DeVincentis as writer.

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By EdGross - 5/19/2012
DeVincentis' previous writing credits include 1997's Grosse Pointe Blank, 2000's High Fidelity, 2012's Lay the Favorite and the currently in development King Dork.

The Night Stalker originally starred Darren McGavin as reporter Carl Kolchak, who continually finds himself in the position of uncovering supernatural threats that he desperately tries to expose via his writing - though he's inevitably thwarted from doing so. The concept began in the imagination of writer Jeff Rice, and was adapted to television by Dark Shadows' Dan Curtis as a 1972 TV movie in which Kolchak discovers a vampire in Las Vegas. For 1973's The Night Strangler, Kolchak relocates to Seattle where he battles a seemingly immortal killer. This was followed by a 20-episode TV series in 1974 titled Kolchak: The Night Stalker and a 2005 reboot starring Stuart Townsend and produced by The X-Files' Frank Spotnitz.



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34 Comments
DukeAcureds - 5/19/2012, 5:04 AM
No!No!No!No!No!No! No!!
Edgar!!!
8 Years! 8 Yeeeaars (cough) (splurt)!!!
Give us our gorram Ant-Man film or I'm coming 'round to your house to rough you up.
Word.
Fenlion - 5/19/2012, 5:05 AM
Oh goody! Johnny Depp's doing something original! Ooh! What's next? Kojak? A drag version of Cagney and Lacey perhaps? He has so many ideas! Sarcasm. Bazinga
longbowhunter - 5/19/2012, 5:32 AM
Night Stalker was a great show. Depp is gonna have some big shoes to fill. Darren McGavin really did a good job of riding that line between pesky reporter and heroic truth seeker.
Buddha29 - 5/19/2012, 5:43 AM
Good Lord, where are the original ideas in this industry?
darkmetal - 5/19/2012, 5:55 AM
I like Depp but does he not get great original scripts anymore? The bad thing about this is you get 1 story where if it where a tv show you get 22 a year. Like Trek fans would have more Trek with a series than 1 movie every 3 years.
ironknight - 5/19/2012, 5:55 AM
If this is going to push off Ant Man, I want them NOT to do this. Let someone else funny direct it at least.
AlexDeLarge87 - 5/19/2012, 5:57 AM
Depp is great actor when he gets the right role and his role in Rum Diary makes me believe he can pull off Kolchak. I would have chosed Downey Jr. for the role thou.
It could be awesome if they use new story and dont remake the original stories.

The movies and the series is still kinda scary. :)
AlexDeLarge87 - 5/19/2012, 6:02 AM
He needs stop work with Burton and go back to make some serious dramas ala Donnie Brasco.
Ha1frican - 5/19/2012, 6:08 AM
I was turned off by Johnny's name but the more important part is we are getting a new Edgar wright film! Kinda want it to fal through so we get At-Man faster but the man makes quality films so I'm excited nonetheless
Ha1frican - 5/19/2012, 6:10 AM
Wait Edgar didn't write it... takes a little away for me...
TheDickRises - 5/19/2012, 6:17 AM
I dont give a shit about jonny deep better make antman first
Ranger14 - 5/19/2012, 7:05 AM
Loved watching the Nightstalker growing up, but I am weary of Depp and he seems to be miscast quite a bit as of late.
CapsUnknownSidekick - 5/19/2012, 8:20 AM
Marvel, are you reading? If Edgar Wright plans even one more film before Antman, then you need to kick his ass to the curb.
Scabsallover - 5/19/2012, 8:25 AM
Man, Depp must really hate being at home.
dnno1 - 5/19/2012, 10:09 AM
The Night Stalker was actually a good series back in the 1970's. I used to watch it all the time when I was a kid. Johnny Depp should do well in the role of Carl Kolchak since he can add that flair of comedy to the part as the late Darren McGavin did so long ago (even more so).
SugarYumYum - 5/19/2012, 10:22 AM
@Ranger14: Agreed and I'm a Johnny fangirl but it's gotten to be too much.

It's like he's not even picky with the material he gets these days yet he has every right to be. Does no one send him any good original scripts these days? :-/
geeekgod - 5/19/2012, 10:34 AM
i'm all for it!!! i know depp and wright can pull this off
imnotwearinghockeypants - 5/19/2012, 10:46 AM
Only I didn't say fudge.
Facade - 5/19/2012, 12:05 PM
I smell more CAMPY bullshit from Depp.
Nightmare7 - 5/19/2012, 1:43 PM
wow depps going to ruin another franchise by making a campy stupid version of this..thank goodness theres good cbms to keep my attention off this mess..
thetrojan - 5/19/2012, 2:22 PM
this just means johnny will not be joining the marvel universe.
TheRationalOne - 5/19/2012, 3:23 PM
I think Depp ala Ninth Gate should be Doc Strange.

This movie sounds alright tho. At least it's not Burton.

Oh...and F Antman. Lame ass.
mctrinket - 5/19/2012, 3:54 PM
Will he make it another campy comedy? Cuz if so I am not really interested.
incredibleTalk - 5/19/2012, 5:31 PM
I was so afraid to watch that show but I did anyway as a kid.....with vampires being heroes and boyfriends now...how can you be afraid of them!
Todd Gray - 5/19/2012, 6:01 PM


Heck yeah!

They haven't managed to ruin Dark Shadows enough, let's trash another classic t.v. series, Night Stalker!
incredibleTalk - 5/19/2012, 6:36 PM
What was that keyboard thing he was on...didn't have a monitor and it was loud...was it wireless and where was the printer?
Scabsallover - 5/19/2012, 8:12 PM
Honestly @incredibletalk, I think you're joking, but with kids the way they are these days, and not bowing your age, I genuinely can't tell.
Scabsallover - 5/19/2012, 8:13 PM
Knowing*
Al - 5/20/2012, 12:39 AM
Okay. Honestly, although I loved the original TV films and series starring Darren McGavin, subsequent reboots of the original have met with EPIC FAILS! So, unless it's done properly and not as a campy comedy, I say stowe it! Besides, although it's admirable that Mr. Wright wants to take on all these projects (even television projects like this one), I think at the moment with the success of The Avengers, no offense at all intended, but he should be focusing on Ant Man, whom Marvel stated would be integrated into the Avengers team at a later date.

So far, we fans were sadly left without Hank Pym & Janet Van Dyne in the Avengers film and no mention whether or not they'll turn up in Avengers 2 or any other MCU film. How long has Ant Man been in development hell?

If Ant Man & Company aren't in Avengers 2 or at the very least introduced in another MCU film prior to it, have someone helm it who's dedicated to it and who'll focus more on it being their primary project & stay close to the source material. Just sayin'...
DevilHulk666 - 5/20/2012, 1:46 AM
maybe Depp will be Ant-man?
Ichaos - 5/20/2012, 2:04 AM
Crappp. Depp needs to stick with cheeseball comedic movies. We don't need him to masaqure another pop culture/cult classic character.

The Night Stocker was awsome for its day and was a HUGE inpsiration for the X-files. Give the role to someone else
Godzillafart - 5/20/2012, 2:51 AM
Oh who cares? Perhaps we could get a 24 hour feed of Depp masturbating. What a hack.
csheensrubber - 5/20/2012, 3:24 PM
clive owen for dr strange.im gonna start pushing for it now.
KungFuGee - 5/20/2012, 11:41 PM
Depp is OK. But Nightstalker was a freakin great show. With limited special effects they still made you believe and scared the living hell out of you. Kolchak was a humble, driven, everyman with strong belief in what he was reporting about. McGavin had a sense of humility that made him likable and believable. Don't know if Depp can pull that off. I hope they stay true to the original...Yeah Right!

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