The Venice Film Festival begins August 29 and possibly the most anticipated American entry is the world premiere of “A Star Is Born” starring Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, who also directed the film. This is at least the fourth telling of this tale. The stars change, the style of music changes, but the story apparently has something that is evergreen — the title, coincidentally, of Barbra Streisand’s Oscar-winning song in the 1976 version.
The latest big-screen reboot of “Charlie’s Angels” was announced earlier this summer, and as we speak, Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner are prepping a reimagining of “West Side Story.” It might make sense to attempt a new take on a great idea that didn’t work the first time. (The Rat Pack’s “Oceans 11” became the much better George Clooney version.) But for an iconic musical that won 10 Oscars?
The list of failed remakes is long. (Think “Charade,” “Sabrina, “The Magnificent Seven.”) Another winner of ten-plus Oscars, “Ben Hur,” came back in 2016 and bit the dust. There are those that never get it right. Neither Robert Redford nor Leonardo di Caprio could bring Gatsby to life.
The new version of “Papillon,” starring Charlie Hunnam (“Sons of Anarchy”) and Rami Malek (“Mr. Robot”), opens in theaters August 24. “These remakes are made because a director, star or screenwriter has a modern take on the film for a new generation,” says Michael Puopolo, senior VP of international television research at 20th Century Fox distribution. Early trade reviews of the film, which originally starred Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman, do not bode well. But their young fans may ignore the critics.
Which may be why Hollywood keeps trying.
“Hollywood likes stories that have pre-existing audience awareness,” says Joe Pichirallo, currently at NYU’s Tisch School and formerly SVP at Fox Searchlight. “Plus, a successful old film presumably has a story that works creatively.”
A significant rationale for taking a second (or third) shot on a property is the explosion in all things technical. This explains the “King Kong” and “Godzilla” reboots. But do louder pyrotechnics necessarily make for better viewing, or do they leave nothing to what’s left of our imagination?
One might also point to sexual liberties that can now be taken with stories told in primmer times. But is nudity necessarily sexier than hanging a towel between beds, or teaching a guy how to whistle?
Director Taylor Hackford, who sexed up 1947’s “Out of the Past” under the new title “Against All Odds” in 1984, warns that critics judge new versions particularly harshly. “I didn’t want to duplicate the original,” he says. “My desire was to do a new adaptation of the novel, but to update it to the hazy smog of 1980s Los Angeles. I’ll never do another remake. It’s a thankless task.”
And then there are the PC considerations. For instance, the new Charlie bossing those Angels around will be a woman. Clearly, the thinking behind the Spielberg/Kushner take on “West Side Story” will be to make sure that when you’re a Shark… you’re a Shark all the way. (That is, the director is specifically seeking out Latinx talent to fill the Puerto Rican gang’s principal roles.)
There are also the Americanized remakes, our version of foreign films. This spring’s box office dud “Midnight Sun,” a teen romance starring Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger, was based on a 2006 Japanese film, while Sony Classics just released an American version of the Argentinian drama “Puzzle” to mostly middling reviews.
Bottom line: Most revivals do not work. One reason may be that original story ideas aren’t going to film studios. “Television is sucking all the interesting, edgy, creative ideas out of the feature market,” entertainment attorney Alan Wertheimer says.
Lucy Stille, a literary agent at APA, says, “With studio consolidation and the decision to spend on a few movies rather than a varied slate of mid-range films, there is no financial incentive for screenwriters to write on spec.”
There are the rare happy endings when it comes to film remakes. “True Grit” may have won an Oscar for John Wayne in 1970, but the film was much improved upon years later by the Coen Brothers. Wayne, by the way, is one of the few who remade his own movie. Yes, “Rio Bravo” basically became “El Dorado,” with James Caan in the Ricky Nelson role.
Alfred Hitchcock turned his 1934 black-and-white version of “The Man Who Knew Too Much” into a revised thriller two decades later, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. Bing Crosby’s “Holiday Inn” begat Crosby’s “White Christmas.” Better? You decide.
Is any movie immune to this treatement? There has even been talk every few years of remaking “Casablanca.” We can only hope we are misinformed. Of all the scripts in all the gin joints…
18 Movie Reboots With Gender-Swapped Leads, From 'His Girl Friday' to 'The Hustle' (Photos)
From lady "Ghostbusters" to talk of a female James Bond, Hollywood has taken a shine to remaking classic movies or TV shows with gender-swapped leads as a way of mixing up a tried and true formula. But the trend dates back farther than to just the last few years. The latest example of this is "The Hustle," opening Friday, which swaps out Steve Martin and Michael Caine with Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway in a remake of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." Here are some other movies that looked to remake something old with not just a fresh face but from an entirely different point of view.
Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell move a mile a minute and have a natural chemistry as reporters Walter Burns and Hildy Johnson in Howard Hawks's screwball comedy classic "His Girl Friday." But missing from its source material, both the play and the movie "The Front Page" by playwright Ben Hecht, is the wonderful romantic back and forth between the two because Hildy was originally played by a man.
Columbia Pictures Corporation
"The Incredible Shrinking Woman" (1981)
The '50s B-movie "The Incredible Shrinking Man" is already a little campy, but for the reboot, Lily Tomlin took over the lead role and made the sci-fi fantasy a full-on parody.
Universal Pictures
"The Next Karate Kid" (1994)
After three movies featuring Ralph Macchio, Mr. Miyagi took on a new pupil played by Hilary Swank for the 1994 reboot. However, "The Karate Kid" would gender swap back to a boy for the 2010 remake with Jaden Smith.
Columbia Pictures Corporation
"American Psycho II: All American Girl" (2002)
With Christian Bale definitely not coming back for a sequel, this slapdash sequel to the Bret Easton Ellis cult classic pegged Mila Kunis as an "angrier, deadlier and sexier" killer than even Patrick Bateman. The movie opens with a flashback of Kunis as a little girl being Bateman's one victim who got away and now takes up the serial killer mantle.
Lions Gate Films
"Herbie Fully Loaded" (2005)
When Disney dusted off "The Love Bug" and found the magical Herbie a new owner, they looked to one of the biggest young stars of the day, Lindsay Lohan. The movie was ridiculous, but Lohan proved to be a regular Danica Patrick.
Disney
"Last Holiday" (2006)
Though it's hardly a resemblance after a gap of 56 years between them, the Queen Latifah comedy is actually a remake of a British classic from 1950 starring Alec Guinness.
Paramount Pictures
"The Tempest" (2010)
If anyone was going to gender swap Shakespeare, it would be Helen Mirren. She starred as Prospero in Julie Taymor's sumptuous adaptation of "The Tempest."
Miramax
"Ghostbusters" (2016)
"Ghostbusters" is such a beloved fan favorite that this admirable remake starring the hilarious quartet of Kirsten Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones received a lot of unfortunate blowback from dudes who didn't want to see women get the chance to be this funny. Sony has since announced plans to make yet another sequel of "Ghostbusters," this time going back to male characters, a move that came as an insult to the former film's stars.
Sony
"Life of the Party" (2018)
Critics couldn’t help but notice a striking similarity between Melissa McCarthy in “Life of the Party” and Rodney Dangerfield in “Back to School.” Both films are raunchy comedies about middle-aged parents living it up on campus as they enroll back into college, but McCarthy and director Ben Falcone’s screenplay is credited as an original story.
Hopper Stone/WB
"Overboard" (2018)
Even Jennifer Lopez couldn't get a remake of Goldie Hawn's "Overboard" to float. But by swapping the gender roles, Anna Faris and Eugenio Derbez, with Derbez in Hawn's role and Faris taking the part of the overworked Kurt Russell, they made it work. But the "Overboard" remake is also intended to break racial barriers as well as gender barriers. "This time the Mexican is going to be the millionaire and she's going to be cleaning the floors," Derbez told TheWrap.
MGM
"Ocean's 8" (2018)
Move over Rat Pack. The semi-sequel to "Ocean's Eleven" stars Sandra Bullock as the sister of George Clooney's Danny Ocean. She organizes her own team of thieves, including Cate Blanchett, Helena Bonham Carter, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Rihanna and Awkwafina to swipe a massive diamond necklace off a vain starlet played by Anne Hathaway during The Met Gala.
Warner Bros.
"Ophelia" (2018)
“Ophelia” isn’t strictly a reboot but a new take on Shakespeare’s classic play “Hamlet” that tells the same story from the point of view of Hamlet’s bride-to-be. Daisy Ridley stars as Ophelia in the film from director Claire McCarthy, which also updates the Shakespearean dialogue for a contemporary audience.
IFC Films
"What Men Want" (2019)
Taraji P. Henson stars in this updated remake of the Nancy Meyers rom-com "What Women Want" starring Mel Gibson. That 2000 film was about a sexist man who uses his power to hear women's thoughts to eventually improve how he treats women, while Henson's character uses her ability to hear men's thoughts in order to navigate a male-dominated world as a sports agent.
Paramount Pictures
"After the Wedding" (2019)
"After the Wedding" is a case of gender-flipping a director and a star. Bart Freundlich remade Susanne Bier's 2006 foreign film starring Mads Mikkelsen about an orphanage owner who travels to Denmark and discovers a life-altering family secret. But when Freundlich's wife, Julianne Moore, expressed an interest in playing the part of the rich man originally played by Rolf Lassgard, this family triangle story gained a whole new perspective. The new "After the Wedding" made its premiere at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
Sundance Film Festival
"The Hustle" (2019)
"The Hustle" isn't a remake of the Paul Newman, pool shark movie "The Hustler" (although that sounds like a solid candidate for a gender-swapped remake, too), but of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," with Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson taking over the con job from Steve Martin and Michael Caine. And that movie is actually a comedic update of a 1964 Marlon Brando and David Niven con movie "Bedtime Story."
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
"Splash"
Does it count as a gender-swapped reboot if the character in question is a mer-person? Back in 2017 it was revealed that Imagine Entertainment was working on a remake of Ron Howard’s 1984 rom-com “Splash” in which Tom Hanks falls in love with a mermaid played by Daryl Hannah. But in the new version, Jillian Bell would play the human while Channing Tatum would be the mermaid, or rather merman. Bell said as recently as January that the project was still happening and being written.
Touchstone Pictures
"Lord of the Flies"
News of an all-female reboot of “Lord of the Flies” back in 2017 sparked backlash with online critics who said the idea completely missed the point of the book. William Golding’s novel is about how quickly a society of men could devolve into violence and toxicity, and the same dystopian story with a cast of all women just wouldn’t happen, critics contended. However, the idea might’ve earned some support if the people writing the reboot were women. The project hasn't been heard of since.
MGM
“High Fidelity”
“High Fidelity” is a remake of the John Cusack movie and Nick Hornby book about a record store owner obsessed with Top 5 lists who revisits the top 5 break-ups that shaped his love life. Zoe Kravitz and Jake Lacy star in the re-imagined story, now a series for Hulu, in which she stars as “the ultimate music fan.”
Touchstone Pictures
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Helen Mirren, Queen Latifah and Lily Tomlin have all taken over parts originally played by men
From lady "Ghostbusters" to talk of a female James Bond, Hollywood has taken a shine to remaking classic movies or TV shows with gender-swapped leads as a way of mixing up a tried and true formula. But the trend dates back farther than to just the last few years. The latest example of this is "The Hustle," opening Friday, which swaps out Steve Martin and Michael Caine with Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway in a remake of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels." Here are some other movies that looked to remake something old with not just a fresh face but from an entirely different point of view.