Trailer for 'Funny Games' Remake
Filed under: Thrillers, Warner Independent Pictures, Trailer Trash, Remakes and Sequels, Trailers and Clips
There are only a handful of examples out there of a director who has chosen to remake their own movie. But I guess if Alfred Hitchcock can do it, why not someone else? MSN is now hosting the trailer for Michael Haneke's remake of his own film, Funny Games. Starring Naomi Watts and Tim Roth, the update follows the same story as the original; a family vacationing at a remote country home is terrorized by a psychotic duo -- this time around it's Michael Pitt (Last Days) and Brady Corbet. Judging from the trailer, it's going to be a tough sell to North American audiences. Mainly because you can't tell whether the film is going for pitch black comedy, or a straight thriller. Not to mention (Warning, spoiler ahead), the ending might be a little hard for US audiences to take. Unless, of course, Haneke had some major changes up his sleeve.This is just the first remake of a Haneke film slated this year. Rumors of Ron Howard taking on Haneke's thriller Cache with long-time production partner Brian Grazer surfaced back in February, although there has yet to be official confirmation. Haneke is also slated to start production on The White Tape or the Teacher's Tale, a period piece set in a German village pre-WW1. Since I haven't seen the original Funny Games, I can't say whether or not the remake is a good idea or not; although experience has taught me that most remakes can never live up to the original -- even if they are made by the same person.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-16-2007 @ 3:55PM
myvelocity said...
I have, in fact, seen the original. It is creepy, disturbing and is as much about slapping the collective wrists of the violence-obsessed culture as it is giving in to the nastiness (though most of the graphic violence is committed off-screen).
Because it is such an effective movie I think the remake is a pretty ridiculous idea (as a confession, I believe most remakes are a complete waste of time). My only thought is that Haneke is still disgusted with the way society continues to crave deplorable acts of depravity and he's back to administer another lashing. But this mindset contributed to what I thought ultimately was the film's weakness. Its overly preachy tone. Having said all that, though, this is still probably one of the more disturbing movies I've ever seen.
From what I've heard, he has no plans to change anything in the storyline, including the ending.
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9-16-2007 @ 7:44PM
richard said...
were the remakes of "ben-hur" and "the departed" a complete waste of time?
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9-16-2007 @ 10:01PM
myvelocity said...
I did say "most" did I not?
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9-17-2007 @ 7:11AM
Der Linzer said...
I have seen this movie several years back when it was released in Austria. My advice: try anything to see this movie and you'll see, that the end is not only hard to take for the US audience...
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9-17-2007 @ 10:24AM
actorpull said...
The problem is, unless this gets a wide release, it's preaching to the choir. More than half the people who will see this already saw the original, and a lot of people who frequent arthouse cinema already have absorbed and made up their minds about the message of the film.
If this were marketed like Hostel and released on 2 or 3 thousand screens, then it would have the effect that Haneke desires. It seems like a really pointless idea to make a shot-for-shot remake of this film if the right people aren't going to see it.
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9-17-2007 @ 12:30PM
Jonathan Kuhn said...
Isn't "Desperado" considered a sequel? There's a brief flashback of something that happened in "El Mariachi," like it's part of this character's backstory.
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9-17-2007 @ 1:19PM
Hollywood Ron said...
Desperado is a sequel. Funny Games will be entirely too difficult for mainstream audiences to digest. I love/have seen/own the original; it's a great movie and very well made, but it's also more than a little nauseating.
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