Del Toro to Remake 'The Witches'
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Deals, Warner Brothers, Scripts, Family Films, DIY/Filmmaking
It never fails to amuse me whenever parents get all worked up about an occasional f-bomb or a flash of boob, but show 'em a story about child genocide peppered with mild misogyny and presto -- you've got a children's classic! Almost two years ago, it was announced that Guillermo Del Toro and Alfonso Cuarón would be taking on an update of Roald Dahl's The Witches, and it was originally reported that Cuarón was going to direct. Now, though, it seems like things have changed, and Empire has broken the news (in an interview with Cuarón) that Del Toro has not only finished the screenplay, but will also be taking the helm for the fantasy update.
Dahl's original story centered on a conspiracy of witches looking to rid the world of children (great bedtime story, huh?), and received the feature film treatment once before. But, that hasn't stopped the studio from going ahead with a brand new version of the dark children's tale, and by the sounds of it, there are going to be plenty of changes in Del Toro's update. Cuarón told Empire, "It won't be like the original Nicolas Roeg version, which was a beautiful film," because (and this is the very exciting part), Del Toro plans to "do it completely in stop-motion animation."
When Nicolas Roeg's version was released back in 1990, a few changes were made to make the story a little less disturbing for the kiddies (including a much lower body count). But for you purists out there, at least we can rely on the fact that at least Del Toro isn't afraid to play rough with kids on the big screen.
Sound off below, and tell us what you think about Del Toro's plan for the 'kiddie-killing' update...
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-01-2008 @ 7:30PM
Josh said...
I think Del Toro is one of the top directors working today, and not just for his creation of characters (which wouldn't really fall under that umbrella of directing). He's one of the few (Scorsese, Coppola, etc.) directors who seems like they were literally put on this world to share their vision. I'm amazingly excited for "The Hobbit" & "Frankenstein", and this is just one more to add to the list.
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12-01-2008 @ 7:27PM
Philip said...
This is one of my favorite books and i fully trust Del Toro with it.
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12-01-2008 @ 9:33PM
Helen said...
I so can't wait for 'The Hobbit' but wow -- Roald Dahl is wonderful, too. Besides the more Grimm aspects of fairy tales never bothered me. (Children catching a glimpse of boob is nothing to get upset about either.)
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12-02-2008 @ 12:44AM
the_kid said...
jesus christ! i'm not against the idea at all but del toro has enough projects as it is. i would say focus on one project at a time.
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