The Invisible Man Returns - Exclusive Report

The movies are now turning from real life to fictional characters and invented heroes of the comics such as Superman, Batman and Spiderman. Thus it is not surprising that a remake of The Invisible Man is production. It differs from the others in that it is not based on the dark vision of the comic strip, but the kitsch television series of the seventies.

Producer Russell Stratton: "I've been a fan all my life, used to read the comic books and so on. Sadly I threw them all out; Jesus, some of them must be worth well over a fiver each nowadays... I wanted to recapture some of that wealth."

Stratton set up his own production company to see this dream come true, and for the past decade it has produced toothpaste adverts. He then met the youthful Scott McLaren, who had been the toad wrangler on Return to Broad Marsh, and felt that here was the person who could bring the project to the silver screen. "It's a very visual film," says Stratton, "and Scott is used to working in the dark"

"We had a whole bunch of problems when I came along," recalls McLaren. "Russell wanted to have Nicholson in the role, but that was no-go to start with. My total budget was about two million, and Jack wouldn't come cheap. This is a pity because Jack has such wonderful eyes. We had to settle for, er, whatisname, a complete unknown in fact"

Some people might argue that the choice of the central actor is unimportant, since the character is only seen until he invents the invisibility machine. I put this to McLaren. "Well, you're wrong there. This guy is already invisible at the kick-off. He's actually in a coma." So do we ever actually see him? "That would be giving it away"

As far as I can make out the plot involves the doctors' attempts to revive the invisible man, or to at least render him visible so that people don't trip over him. The only way that this can be done (surgery and red paint having failed) is to administer a potion of Hawaiian snake blood.

Filming began last June, but after three weeks it was realised that something was missing from the film: action. "It was all so kind of static," says Stratton. "The problem was in the blasted title. Invisible Man. I wanted thousands. Colour. Spectacle. Music: Like the films around in my youth - The Maltese Falcon and so on."

So began a period of arguments, threatened litigation, and the writers having to draft all through the night for a week. At the end, the creative differences were solved and McLaren took back what he said about Stratton and his sister. And The Invisible Man - The Musical was born.

"Sure, I was skeptical at first," admits McLaren. "But the producer knows best There's no place in the cinema for artistic integrity. What hurt the most was the loss of John Cage's soundtrack. He had only produced four minutes thirty three seconds' worth, but it was some of his best work. Even now I hope to salvage some of it, in a disco re-mix. But the film actually does work now. I watched some rushes this morning, where we have a thousand invisible extras, all tap dancing in unison."

It still looks as if McLaren can save the British film industry. Certainly a lot of money will be made. Stratton: "Nowadays the only thing about movies is the cinema release. We tend to lose a helluva lot on that The money comes on TV sales and video. And merchandising, which Britain has been slow to capitalize on in the past So we're gonna have badges, stickers and t-shirts. I'm currently negotiating with a multi-national toy manufacture who wants to make plastic miniatures of the Invisible Man, in various action poses. This is the way forward. One recent film made twenty million bucks in just the first weekend before it opened. I can see the day when the film won't be made; we'll just put the hype on general release."

The Invisible Man - The Musical will open in London, 29th February 1990