Michael Giacchino Sets ‘Them!’ Remake as Feature Directorial Debut
When it comes to making dreams come true, Michael Giacchino may be the man to follow. After becoming one of the best film composers in the world over the past few years, Giacchino decided to finally embrace his lifelong dream of directing movies.
It started with the 2018 short film Monster Challenge, and continued with an episode of the 2019 animated series Star Trek: Short Treks, but Giacchino finally made a splash with the highly-praised Marvel Studios Special Presentation Werewolf by Night, a homage to 1930s monster movies that debuted on Disney Plus last October. Now, he’s expanding his horizons and looking at making his feature film debut as a director.
Deadline is reporting the composer-turned-director will be remaking the 1954 Gordon Douglas movie Them! for Warner. It’s a science-fiction flick that features mutated ants transformed into man-eating monsters which threaten to end civilization. Giacchino would be currently meeting with writers, aiming to start production as soon as possible. Much like Werewolf by Night, he will be scoring the film too. His brother, Anthony Giacchino, who directed the behind-the-scenes making-of documentary on Werewolf by Night, Director by Night, will be involved with the production as well.
In a statement to the trade, he described his passion for the project:
“There’s always a movie in your mind that never leaves your head. For me, that’s Them! It wasn’t until much later in life until I learned what it was about — the nuclear age.
What I love about Them! is exactly what it’s called: Them! It’s about the other, the unknown which one refuses or can’t understand. The current version of Them! is about immigration, and to tell a story about the subject through a lens of this insane science fiction monster movie.”
Added WB Pictures President of Production and Development Jesse Ehrman:
“Michael Giacchino is a unique talent. We’re excited to be working with him and have him at the studio.”
No release date has been set, but production could begin before the end of the year if Giacchino is serious about finding his writing team quickly and putting a script together as soon as possible. He’s already completed all of his upcoming work as a composer, including Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins. In 2022, he created the music for The Batman, Jurassic World: Dominion, Thor: Love and Thunder, and Pixar’s Lightyear.
During the promotion for Werewolf by Night, Michael Giacchino expressed his love for classic monster movies and how that shaped his love for cinema growing up. Composing was always meant to be a side job, and now he’s achieving his dream. This is probably a perfect fit for him.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.
