John Patterson, writing in The Guardian, suggests it might be time to consider remaking/updating the Orson Welles masterpiece Citizen Kane. The obvious choice of subject, Patterson says, is media mogul Rupert Murdoch, but I like his final suggestion better: Silvio Berlusconi. I like it better in large part because there’s even less chance that film would get made than the Murdoch one.
I’m not completely against updating movies–I suspect it can work, if handled the right way. But it rarely does. In my view, for example, the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate was an abomination, and should never be viewed by anyone, ever. So I open this up to Rumpus Readers–what remakes are the worst you’ve ever seen, or what movies should never be remade, in your view?
2 responses
I could just about imagine someone wanting to remake “Jaws”: younger, better-looking actors in the leads. Hotter beach-goers, more thongs and g-strings. A super realistic CG shark with lots of “personality.” Extended people-getting-eaten gore sequences with lots of close-ups of spilling intestines. “I’m on a boat” in-jokes. Brendan Frasier as the mayor. Ben Affleck as Quint.
Some old movies could be updated in interesting ways. Take The Wizard of Oz for example. One could adapt The Wizard of Oz in a way that completely reimagines the visual language and more closely follows the original novel.
Remaking Casablanca would be a disaster.
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