Open letter to the Hollywood film industry

[annathepiper]

Ahem. Excuse me. Hey, you guys there in Hollywood! Yes, you. Specifically, you people trying to remake The Manchurian Candidate. Denzel Washington and Meryl Streep, I'm looking in your directions.

Y'all know what film really, really, REALLY does not require a remake? The Manchurian Candidate, that's what!

You people should be ashamed of yourselves. Please put down the cameras, walk away slowly, and go work on a nice John Grisham adaptation instead. Please. I beg you.

Comments

[avram]

I dunno. I think an updated version could really rock, if done right.

[annathepiper]

"If done right" are the operative words here!

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Hey! Don' nobody better say nothin' bad 'bout Miss Jenkins, er, Miss Streep! She's a graduate of my high school! ;-)

[annathepiper]

Hey, perfectly decent actors and actresses who should damn well known better have more than once wound up in movies that totally suck.

Case in point: Ralph Fiennes, Uma Thurman, and Sean Connery in The Avengers!

[flashfire.livejournal.com]

Whether or not this one sucks remains to be seen. ;-)]

But, yeah - everyone has bad movies. Uma Thurman was also Poison Ivy in that horrible Batman movie.

[annathepiper]

solarbird says that from what she's heard so far, they're doing everything WRONG wrong WRONGITY wrong wrong with the plot.

As for me, from what I've seen of the bilge coming out of Hollywood the last couple of years--I ain't betting on much here. Looking up the director on IMDB, the ONLY thing I see on his list of credits that suggests to me that this remake MIGHT achieve the level of "competent thriller that happens to share a few character names in common with the original but otherwise has no actual connection with the original story" is that he's the guy who did The Silence of the Lambs.

But achieve the stunning brilliance of the original? Nope. Not gonna happen.

The original ...

[wrog]

has Angela Lansbury getting shot in the head

I can't think of anything they could possibly do in the remake to measure up to that.

[smeehrrr.livejournal.com]

You know what I can't wait for is the Casablance remake with Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. That's going to rock!

[agrimony.livejournal.com]

There's a remake of The Lion in Winter with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close in it, too.

[kent.livejournal.com]

You probably should have told them this while they were still filming! Now it's too late.

Or what about Stepford Wives?

[poodlgrl.livejournal.com]

Not only does this movie NOT need a remake, because the original is still brilliant and chilling, but the remake completely MISSES THE FUCKING POINT. And I even saw an unfortunate interview with Bette Midler where she referred to the original as a " stern warning to women " about being domestic. UM... Nope!

[annathepiper]

The film hasn't hit the theaters yet--it's not too late to burn all the proofs and keep it from being unleashed upon the reeling public!

[annathepiper]

*shudders* Have you seen it? Did it suck? I can respect Stewart and Close--but she ain't no Hepburn.

Re: Or what about Stepford Wives?

[annathepiper]

Oh dear--I hadn't heard that the remake dropped the ball on the point of the plot. Guh. *shudders* kathrynt had mentioned that she could see the plot being rather timely for our day and age too, but if it's not getting the central point, what IS the point?

[annathepiper]

Phil, are you TRYING to make me throw up? :)

Re: The original ...

[annathepiper]

I dunno, I can think of a few folks I'd like to see shot on screen more than ol' Angela...

Even if my brain still does break every time I think of her being in The Manchurian Candidate and Blue Hawaii practically back to back. ;)

Re: Or what about Stepford Wives?

[poodlgrl.livejournal.com]

The remake is a comedy. I find it really insulting. Have you seen the original?

Re: Or what about Stepford Wives?

[annathepiper]

I have not, but I've read the book and found it duly creep-a-rific.

A COMEDY? GAK. I am almost as appalled by this notion as I am by trying to remake The Manchurian Candidate. >_

Re: Or what about Stepford Wives?

[poodlgrl.livejournal.com]

You need to see the original, which was definitely creepy just like the book. In fact, (given I'm a big titty baby anyway about films) it was practically a horror movie in ways. I bet you'll have no question at all as to the "point" regarding feminism, or women. Honestly, the fact they've made a smarmyish comedy out of it really bums me out.

Re: Or what about Stepford Wives?

[annathepiper]

Oh, I totally get the point of the original story--I'm more talking about, if you don't have that original point to work with, why bother remaking the story AT ALL?

I'm with you--a COMEDY? *peers at the listing on IMDB* It's listed there as Comedy / Drama / Thriller / Musical. *hork* That does NOT make for a good mix of genres.

[agrimony.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it, no. I figured it would be for theatrical release but a quick websearch implies maybe it was shown on Showtime? Not sure.

[annathepiper]

solarbird says she thinks it was a BBC production, but she's not a hundred percent sure. I see that IMDB shows it as having been a TV thing, though. And whoo boy, is the one user comment scathing!