Film News (22/08/09)

Remakes with complex rights issues and fairy tales dominate this weeks news with a couple of stories that just seem to be really bad timing for all involved, or me at least.

Straw Dogs



The James Marsden/Kate Bosworth starring remake has gained an interesting supporting character this week in James Woods. As I've attested here before Woods is at his best when upping the sleaze factor - his ex-husband role in Casino being the highlight - so how he will fit into the revenge drama is yet to be seen. Tragically we will have longer to wait to see it than previously thought, the US release date of February 2011 has been annouced, and as we're likely to get it later this side of the Atlantic we could have a very long wait.



The Conspirator


On Tuesday I sent a warm congratulations to Robert Redford on his 72nd birthday, and I said that whilst he has nothing on his plate I'm sure there's another great film in him. Either my message was a rallying cry, or he deliberatly wanted to embarass me, but the next project was announced on the same day. The film will focus on Mary Surratt, who was the landlady of John Wilkes Boothe, and her arrest following Boothe's assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Sounds like a doozy to me, a 19th century courtroom drama with a politcal murder as the backdrop.

Deep Water

The writings of Patricia Highsmith has been movie gold for over 50 years (when Hitchcock used Strangers on a Train) and include 5 films based on her Tom Ripley character. There are more stories to mine though, including Deep Water about a couple in a loveless (or at least sexless marriage) where he consents to her lovers. Then the lovers start dying mysteriously. I'm not sure about the ages of the protagonists, but these sound like a couple of great parts.

Excalibur

It seems odd to me that Warner Brothers have been fighting over the rights to remake Excalibur, John Boorman's down and dirty King Arthur picture. Whilst it may have been the most succesful version critically it's not as if the legend it self is copywrited. However the legal fight to obtain the remake rights has been completed, so expect a carbon copy (and probably inferior) remake to move into production sometime soon.

The Girl in the Red Riding Hood

Whilst the news that Leonardo DiCaprio's production company was preparing a full scale version of Red Riding Hood was released a few weeks ago I thought I'd mention the appointment of Catherine Hardwicke as director purely because it makes an interesting counterpoint to...

Jack the Giant Killer

The other fairly tale that's currently moving into production. In theory both of these will be kids films - aim squarely at the under 12s - but with major studios and high profile directors being bandied about (this one's alledgedly attached to Bryan Singer) then we could expect anything from modern interpretations to Grimm faithful gore fests.

Yellow Submarine

Is a remake of Yellow Submarine necessary? Probably not, but as usual I'll defend the remake process by saying that no story is so good it can only be told once, and if a film is a true classic then the remake will not tarnish the original's reputation. Let's also admit that the original is more of a trippy curiousity than a major work of cinematic art. Just using the Beatles music again will make it very watchable and just imagine how amazing it's going to look in all of Robert Zemeckis' mo-cap glory.