Hammer’s current owner, John Gore, says the studio still has a letter from Martin Scorsese in the 1990s with a request: “I would love to make a Hammer film”. Scorsese never received a reply.
Gore’s company acquired Hammer and its film catalogue in 2023. When he asked costume designer and Scorsese collaborator Sandy Powell how to revive the conversation, he says her advice was: “Just reply to his letter.”
Scorsese’s interest goes back to childhood trips to the cinema with friends. In 1987, he recalled being about 11 or 12 and knowing Hammer’s logo meant they were about to see something special.
The Curse of Frankenstein’s graphic horror was part of the appeal. “We enjoyed it a great deal,” he said.
Gore’s considering new versions of Hammer titles, though he’s cautious about remaking the classics associated with Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. “It’s very hard to contemplate how we would just do a straight remake of something that is a classic,” he said.
Among the possibilities he’s interested in is the sinister scientist Cushing played in 1964’s The Evil of Frankenstein. He’s also considering 1971’s Countess Dracula, about an aristocratic woman who bathes in young women’s blood to regain her youth, and 1968’s The Devil Rides Out.
