After announcing development of a reboot of the cult classic superhero dark comedy franchise in March 2019 with Macon Blair set to write and direct, Legendary has tapped Game of Thrones alum Peter Dinklage to lead The Toxic Avenger, according to Deadline.
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Blair’s directorial debut, I Don’t Feel At Home in This World Anymore, premiered in 2017 and won the Grand Jury Prize award at the Sundance Film Festival. Onscreen, Blair has starred in Blue Ruin, Green Room, Murder Party, Gold, Logan Lucky, American Woman, and Netflix’s horror drama Hold the Dark.
The original 1984 comedy, produced by Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz, is set in the fictional town of Tromaville, N.J., and centered on a mild-mannered janitor at a health club who’s chased out a second story window by bullies and lands in a drum of toxic waste. The chemicals cause him to transform into the Toxic Avenger, who has superhuman size and strength and stands up to bullies and corruption.
Click here to purchase the 1984 cult classic!
The original film kick-started a franchise, including feature sequels, The Toxic Avenger Part II, The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie, and Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV, as well as a strange musical production, a children’s cartoon TV series, and a Marvel comic.
Kaufman and Herz will serve as producers on the reboot for Troma Entertainment, with Alex Garcia and Jay Ashenfelter overseeing for Legendary. The studio acquired the rights to the film back in December 2018.
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The Toxic Avenger becomes the latest upcoming feature project for Dinklage after recently signing on to star in the Searchlight Pictures psychological thriller Keith, as well as Blair’s other in-development comedy Brothers, in which he’ll star alongside Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame), and the action adventure Good Bad & Undead in which he’s in talks to star alongside fellow GoT alum Jason Momoa, the latter two of which are also set at Legendary Entertainment.
(Photo Credit: Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
