Hollywood is planning yet another big screen adaptation of a TV favorite. If you’re a fan of the old Fantasy Island series, you might think this one sounds more like a nightmare than a fantasy come true.
The original Fantasy Island starred Ricardo Montalban as the mysterious Mr. Roarke and Herve Villechaize as his diminutive assistant Tattoo. Each episode consisted of guests arriving on the island and, after a warm welcome, would live out their personal fantasies – usually with unexpected results. Like sister-series The Love Boat, the 1978-84 show’s guest list was a cavalcade of classic movie and contemporary TV stars. The series was revived in 1998 with Malcolm McDowell in the lead role.
Eddie Murphy has now been attached to star in a big screen adaptation of Fantasy Island for Columbia Pictures. The movie will be a family-oriented comedy and won’t have a big cast. As seems to have become the norm in his movies, Murphy will play multiple roles. He’ll be playing Mr. Roarke as well many other roles.
No director has been chosen as yet but Jay Scherick and David Ronn, the writers of the recent Norbit comedy, are writing the script. Stay tuned! 
More about:
Fantasy Island,
The Love Boat
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Hopefully California will break off from the US and sink before they can start filming this disaster.
I hope the scipt is better than the most recent movie disasters.
I love the old show and I am not sure how you can spin this show, unless you do something around how fantasy island was created.
Sounds horrible.
Wow! What a horrible idea. I can just see it now. Edie Murphy sitting around a big table farting in 12 different costumes.
Why must they always ruin a classic? A comedy? Stupid idea! They almost made a comedy of Six Million Dollar Man with Jim Carey. Glad that never happened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Gee, that’s such a logical actor progression.
Ricardo Montalban –> Malcolm McDowell –> /Eddie Murphy/
It’s bad enough that Murphy continues to be allowed to act in original (and I’m using that word lightly) movies, but a remake of something that people are actually familiar with?? I sort of hope a mob of enraged FI fans tear him to pieces or something.
If he’d just quit acting forever after Dreamgirls, he could have been remembered in a semi-positive light. Nope.
This has been “in the works” for so long that I’m hoping it remains no more than a rumor. Judging from past remakes of good old shows, it’s almost guaranteed they will destroy the premise. “Fantasy Island”, the original, is my all-time favorite show, and if a mob of enraged fans does tear him to bits, as Marth Vader suggested, I’ll be one of ‘em. Why can they just release the rest of “FI” on DVD instead? Three years since Season 1 and nothing more in sight! (sigh)
The original show had such great creepy moments, which were really the best part. This “family comedy” promises to be campy crap.
Nothing against Eddie Murphy, but I think it won’t be the same. I didn’t even like the latest version with Malcolm ‘Clockwork Orange’…
With Antonio Banderas a Roarke and Spielberg directing, this might be interesting.