Robert Rodriguez nabs remake rights to Bakshi’s Fire & Ice

Ain’t It Cool interviewed Robert Rodriguez about his upcoming grindhouse flick Machete, which hits theaters on September 3, 2010, and during the extensive discussion, they touched on Fire & Ice, a dream project Rodriguez apparently has been circling for years. Master illustrator Frank Frazetta’s artwork brought the original Ralph Bakshi animated film to life in 1983.

Rodriguez reports that he and original director and character-creator Ralph Bakshi have worked out the details and a live-action Fire & Ice feature film will be coming from Troublemaker Studios.

Rodriguez will control the rights to Fire & Ice, which bodes well for purists, who would never want to see the film made “family friendly” for the sake of marketing. I’m hoping for skin-tearing, bloody animal fights, and vicious hand to hand combat.

“It’s actually in my power to set it up and get it made, which wasn’t the case on other projects. And for you filmmakers out there, that’s really the best way to get things done. If you can manage to get the rights yourself to a property by dealing directly with the artists and creators like I did with Frank Miller on Sin City, and now with Ralph Bakshi on Fire and Ice, it makes a world of difference and you can get started sooner rather than never,” said Rodriguez.

CLICK HERE to read the entire interview.

Check out the trailer for the original Fire & Ice.

Fans of the genre should check out my new site MyFantasyArt.com, a community dedicated to creators and fans of fantastic, comic and surrealist work. I happen to be a HUGE fan of this type of art, and had the opportunity to visit the Frazetta Museum in The Poconos a few times. Fantastic folks up there, who simply adored the man’s work. My first books featuring Frazetta’s work were the Fantastic Art of Frank Frazetta, Volumes One through Five, all of which I still have and view for inspiration.