Sony Pictures‘ upcoming Flatliners remake has cast Kiefer Sutherland (“24”), who starred in the 1990 original, according to Deadline. The site says that he will play a “seasoned doctor” in the new film and is joining a cast that includes Ellen Page, Diego Luna, Nina Dobrev, James Norton and Kiersey Clemens.
Helmed by Niels Arden Oplev (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo), the new take on Flatliners boasts a screenplay from Source Code writer Ben Ripley. Laurence Mark and Michael Douglas are producing the new film.
The original Flatliners was directed by Joel Schumacher, written by Peter Filardi and produced by Douglas and Rick Bieber. The film, also starring Julia Roberts, William Baldwin, Oliver Platt, and Kevin Bacon, is officially described as follows:
At University Hospital School of Medicine, a group of ambitious medical students are about to die… and live to tell about it. Embarking on a daring and arrogant experiment, the five aim to push through the confines of life and touch the face of death.
Nelson Wright (Kiefer Sutherland), the manipulative, fame-seeking initiator of the project, has recruited Rachel Mannus (Julia Roberts), a self-made expert in the field of death; David Labraccio (Kevin Bacon), an idealistic yet pragmatic student suspended from med school; ladies’ man Joe Hurley (William Baldwin); and the brilliant yet self-absorbed Randy Steckle (Oliver Platt) to venture into a frontier that until now had been the exclusive province of religion and philosophy.
Their chilling, secret experiment to see what lies beyond life involves taking turns stopping their hearts until the monitors reading their vital signs indicate nothing but flat lines. Moments later, the other team members, armed with an array of medical equipment, step in to revive them. In their search for knowledge, however, the five discover the profound consequences of daring to tamper with immortality. Returning from their peek at the afterlife, the students bring back manifestations of their past sins, something they had not bargained for. Forced to deal with their previous transgressions here in the present, the participants learn about life as well as death.
