Rocketman's Dexter Fletcher directing reboot of The Saint

By Britt Hayes | February 18, 2020 | 7:04pm

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Rocketman's Dexter Fletcher directing reboot of The Saint

Photo: Frazer Harrison

Dexter Fletcher is unlikely to have any free time on his schedule in the near future. The director of Rocketman, which recently (and rightfully) picked up an Oscar for Best Original Song for Elton John’s “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again,” is keeping himself extremely busy: In addition to recently signing on for Sherlock Holmes 3, Variety reports that Fletcher has also committed to directing Paramount’s long-developing reboot of The Saint. The property originated as a series of novels in the 1920s, which inspired a 1960s TV series starring Roger Moore and a 1997 film featuring Val Kilmer and a very memorable soundtrack—a CD of which could be found lurking in the glove compartment of every Ford Fiesta and Toyota Corolla from 1997 until 2003.

The Saint centers on Simon Templar, an international thief who abides by a Robin Hood-like ethos of taking from the rich and giving to the poor—while ensuring he keeps a sizable cut for himself. The latest version of The Saint, which has been in the works for some time, has a script by Seth Grahame-Smith, whose credits include The Lego Batman Movie and Pride And Prejudice And Zombies (the novel). Lorenzo Di Bonaventura (Transformers) is producing the reboot alongside the late Robert Evans, who will receive a posthumous credit. The Saint is now one of three projects on Fletcher’s slate, which includes the similarly long-developing Sherlock Holmes 3, as well as Renfield—a reimagining of the Dracula story from The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman.