‘Toxic Avenger’ Reboot Lands in the Hands of ‘I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore’ Director Macon Blair

Actor, writer and director Macon Blair is catching a bus to Tromaville. Blair has been tapped by Legendary to write and direct The Toxic Avenger reboot, bringing one of Lloyd Kaufman‘s most famous Z-movie figures further into the mainstream. Blair is a mainstay in Jeremy Saulnier’s films, including Murder Party, Blue Ruin, Green Room and Hold the Dark, which Blair also wrote. Blair made his directorial debut with the Netflix film I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore.

Variety broke the news about Macon Blair landing the job of Toxic Avenger reboot director. Blair will also write, with Lloyd Kaufman and Michael Herz of Troma Entertainment serving as producers and Alex Garcia and Jay Ashenfelter producing for Legendary. As someone who has been a fan of Blair’s since Blue Ruin, I’m thrilled about this news. He seems like the perfect person to bring Toxie into the 21st century.

The Toxic Avenger began as a 1984 super low-grade superhero-comedy-horror film from the folks at Troma Studios. In the original movie, “Melvin Ferd is a 90-pound weakling who works as a janitor at a health club in the fictional town of Tromaville, New Jersey, where the customers harass him constantly. His tormentors get more and more violent, even deliberately killing a young boy on a bike with their car and taking photos of the carnage afterward. One day, they trick Melvin into wearing a pink tutu and kissing a sheep. He is chased around the health club and out a second story window. He lands in a drum of toxic waste, which sets him on fire. After running down the street in a ball of flames, Melvin douses the flames in his bathtub. The chemicals cause him to transform into a hideously deformed creature of superhuman size and strength.”

The Toxic Avenger

Yeah, it’s wild. The film spawned three sequels: The Toxic Avenger Part II, The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie and Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV. There was also an animated series called Toxic Crusaders, a video game of the same name, and a Toxic Avenger musical. Troma has been working on crafting a Toxic Avenger remake since at least 2010, when one was officially announced. At one point, Arnold Schwarzenegger was in talks to appear in the remake, but eventually dropped out.

In 2016, Monsters vs. Aliens director Conrad Vernon was hired to helm the remake, with Guillermo Del Toro executive producing. This version of the project fell through, and now here we are, with Blair in charge. In addition to his work with Jeremy Saulnier, and his own I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore, Blair has also appeared in indie films such as The Florida Project, Logan Lucky and Thunder Road.

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