Five years after their indie film, The Peanut Butter Falcon, garnered wide-ranging acclaim as a charming, character-driven adventure, director Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz are back on the scene with their follow-up film, Los Frikis. Described by Schwartz as “Spanish-language Cuban movie about HIV and punk rockers,” Los Frikis was a passion project for the pair who turned down major studio offers following their successful debut. However, as they look ahead to what’s next, Nilson and Schwartz may move away from their indie roots.
In an interview with THR, Nilson and Schwartz revealed that one possibility for their next project is a 70s, “Australian surfer” version of the 1950 Disney film, Treasure Island.
After nearly 20 years in development as an animated film, Disney pivoted and produced Treasure Island, adapted Robert Louis Stevenson‘s 1883 novel of the same name, as its first live-action film. A pirate adventure through and through, the film features Long John Silver, played by Robert Newton, whose over-the-top accent and antics have become ingrained in pirate pop culture. Over fifty years later, the studio finally delivered its animated adaptation, the sci-fi space adventure, Treasure Planet.
While Nilson and Schwartz’s new take on Treasure Island is still in development, it sounds as though it will be anything but another beat-for-beat Disney remake. “It has the patina of the 1970s surf world. It’s all there,” explained Nilson of the duo’s vision for the project. “It’s an Australian surfer version of Treasure Island,” said Schwartz, “and if they ever make it, it would be so fun. It has the vibes that we do, and there’s found family, brotherhood, drama and outsider energy.“
Source: THR
