Los Angeles, June 21 (IANS): Filmmaker Eli Roth is set to direct a remake of the 1974 thriller-drama "Death Wish" with Bruce Willis playing the reluctant vigilante made famous by Charles Bronson in the original.

Roth will direct the script by Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski, reports hollywoodreporter.com. 

Joe Carnahan penned the original script with Roger Birnbaum serving as producer.

Roth is coming on board after the position was vacated with the departure of Israeli filmmakers Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado. The project, in its modern incarnation, initially had Joe Carnahan as director, but he left in 2012. 

The original film was an adaptation of a 1972 novel by Brian Garfield and told of a man who goes on a revenge spree after his wife is killed and his daughter is sexually assaulted. 

The movie struck a nerve with audiences who were facing the decade’s high crime rate and reinvented the career of Bronson, then 53. It also set off a long list of sequels.