Platinum Dunes head honchos Brad Fuller and Andrew Form dropped a bombshell today that's sure to please those, like myself, firmly planted in the anti-remake camp. During the press conference for the upcoming Platinum Dunes production The Unborn, Fuller & Form indicated firmly that the previously touted redo of Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby is no longer happening. Here's what they said over at Collider.com:"We went down that road and we even talked to the best writers in town and it feels like it might not be do-able. We couldn’t’ come up with something where it felt like it was relevant and we could add something to it other than what it was so we’re now not going to be doing that film."
Score one for reason. Huzzah!
Furthermore, here's what the boys had to say about another frequently poo-pooed remake they've been attached to, that of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds:
"Martin [Campbell] has been working on the script and we’re expecting a script in the next 2-3 weeks, but... its not like Drew, Michael [Bay] and I think that we’re just going to crap all over Alfred Hitchcock’s movie. I mean, Alfred Hitchcock, in a company-wide opinion, is probably the greatest director of what we do, and other things too... Michael and I studied [him] in college, and there’s a reverence for him. So that’s not a movie that we’re just going to step up and just go have birds attacking people and trying to throw that into the box office. If we can’t make that movie unique or add something to it, I don’t think we’re going to make it."
Hmmm. Could it be that the glut of remakes is finally causing some to come to their senses and respect the sanctity of classics that shouldn't be remade? Well... let's not get carried away. But at least Rosemary's Baby is officially off. Spread the word.
Special thanks to fervent reader Gord for passing along this scoop!