Ben Stiller to star alongside Cate Blanchett in film adaptation of ’60s sci-fi series The Champions
Stiller, who has mostly stayed behind the camera in recent years, is also set to direct the upcoming feature
Aux News Ben Stiller
Comedian, actor, and director Ben Stiller has kept a low profile over the last few years, with just a handful of film appearances and the brief return of his character Tony Wonder for the grim revival of Arrested Development. Now, more often behind the camera than in front of it, he will do both in his film adaptation of the 1968 British sci-fi spy series The Champions.
Stiller will star alongside two-time Academy Award winner Cate Blanchett, who is signed onto the project as a producer.
“Champions is a long-forgotten gem that will excite a new generation in the same strange and magnificent way that the original series spoke to us. I’ve long wanted to work with Ben—the director and the actor. He is one of the most engaged and versatile directors working today. Anyone who can make both Zoolander and Escape At Dannemora is a creative force to be reckoned with,” Blanchett says in a statement to Variety.
Stiller adds, “I’m a huge fan of Cate’s for a very long time. I’m hoping this project will help people to finally take her seriously as an actress.”
In the original television show from Dennis Spooner, three United Nations agents end up stranded in the Himalayas following a plane crash. Found by an advanced civilization secretly living in Tibet, they gain enhanced intellectual and physical abilities.
Upon returning home, they use their new superhuman abilities to become champions of law, order and justice. Stuart Damon, Alexandra Bastedo, and William Gaunt starred in the originally series, which ran for one season, spurring 30 episodes.
The only previous murmur of a film adaptation happened in 2007, when Guillermo del Toro signed on to adapt the series for United Artists, which was then swiftly never heard about again.
9 Comments
My quite poor claim to fame was that I saw Cate Blanchett in a small theatre production of Sweet Phoebe in 1995 in a theatre that seated about 90 people, and she was absolutely superb in it. My only regret is not requesting her hand in marriage, but I guess it is what is.
That’s what I know you from!
what exactly is the tone of this? Blanchett is always game, but is Ben Stiller revisiting Mr. Furious? Hey now
Oh goody. I wanted Stiller to make another anemic comedy, but using an even more obscure TV show as the source material.
Isn’t Stiller a bit old for this? They probably both are, as the main cast was in their 20s and 30s. I know that doesn’t have to be an absolute, but if they just want to make another of Stiller’s pop culture parodies they could have just picket a title and script out of hat. He seemed to do that a few times anyway…
Okay, I’ve actually seen this show. But the headline made me imagine Stiller as Hercules and Blanchett as Black Widow, defending Los Angeles….
man, i was hoping it was Marvel’s Champions. Bring back Nic Cage as Ghost Rider and Shawn Ashmore as Iceman, Ben can play Angel and Cate can play a different Black Widow or better yet she can be Darkstar and Pugh can play Widow. Who to cast as Hercules?
Wait…British show, one season, *30* episodes? That’s like four seasons of a typical BBC run.
AKA “Scraping the barrel”.