This project had been on again off again for years before Warner Brothers finally tapped David Yates (Harry Potter and the Last Four Films in the Franchise) to direct this project, a Tarzan tale set years after Lord Greystoke has first ventured away from the jungle. USA Today revealed two stills from the film, starring Alexander Skarsgard as Tarzan and Margot Robbie as Jane Porter.
In The Legend of Tarzan, it’s been a decade since Tarzan reclaimed his role as Lord Greystoke and moved to England. Yates’ film reverses the way we usually see the story, with Tarzan returning to the Congo and slowly shedding his layers of civilization in response to both memory and new threats to his friends and family. It may provide us with a Tarzan closer to creator Edgar Rice Burroughs’ original hero, who was far more complex than most people think. Though several screen incarnations have portrayed Tarzan as articulate, the popular image is still of the “Me, Tarzan” character.
In addition to Skarsgard and Robbie, the film will feature Djimon Hounsou as Chief Mbonga (of the Waziri), Samuel L. Jackson as real-life historical figure George Washington Williams, and Christoph Waltz as the film’s main villain, Captain Rom.
Though not credited by USA Today, this production was also long championed by Dark Horse Entertainment. The publisher has been a keeper of the Tarzan legacy through several graphic novels, even publishing [amazon text=Tarzan: The Lost Adventure&asin=156971083X], a previously unfinished novel by Burroughs, finished by Joe R. Lansdale. Most recently, Dark Horse released a beautiful comics adaptation of [amazon text=Jungle Tales of Tarzan&asin=1616557443]. President Mike Richardson had long been a fan, and talked with us in the summer of 2014 about Dark Horse’s efforts to bring Tarzan back to the theaters.
The Legend of Tarzan is scheduled for release on July 1, 2016.
