Ever mindful of the film’s tagline, “There can be only one person to direct the Highlander reboot, and he needs to be both inexpensive and preferably not too mouthy,” Summit has passed its new Highlander to yet another director. Cedric Nicolas-Troyan has won the honor of developing the long-gestating script after an epic duel, armed with a deep knowledge of the fantasy series’ mythology that even extends to the Highlander syndicated series—elements of which he says he plans to incorporate into the film—as well as the budget-cutting broadsword that is his relative inexperience. Prior to Highlander, Nicolas-Troyan trained as a second-unit director on Snow White And The Huntsman, where he prepared for a movie about an immortal man doomed to walk in eternal sadness by watching Kristen Stewart sulk at lunch.
Nicolas-Troyan also steeled himself for the battle against more veteran filmmakers by considering the most important questions any Highlander director must ask: “Who are these guys with swords? Why are they fighting each other?” he asks Deadline, in what will hopefully be on the film’s poster. The project that, like its protagonist, has seen so many friends come and go will now move on to finding a replacement for long-departed star Ryan Reynolds—likely an unknown, “younger emerging guy,” Nicolas-Troyan says, well aware that there can be only one way to just get this movie made already, seeing as death is still not an option.