daphne du maurier Tagged Articles at Cinematical
Martin Campbell Circling Remake of Hitchcock's 'The Birds'
Filed under: Action », Classics », Horror », Thrillers », Casting », Mystery & Suspense », Universal », James Bond », Remakes and Sequels », Daniel Craig »
As Scott told you in April, the remake of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds is soaring forward. It no longer looks like the film will start production this year, but it does seem to be a definite "go." The studio claims that the remake will be based less on the classic Hitchcock film and more on the source material -- a Daphne du Maurier short story. Still, I have no doubt some of Hitchcock's classic visuals will re-appear. Naomi Watts has been circling the Tippi Hedren role for a while now, but she is waiting to see the script (which already has four writers listed) before she officially signs on. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that the film now has a very likely director -- Martin Campbell. Campbell recently won over a lot of critics with Casino Royale, and if his take on The Birds sticks with the same sleek, stylish, subdued style, it could be something worth watching.
Any mention of this project riles up fans of the original, and Michael Bay is listed as one of the producers, which only upsets purists more. Bay's involvement does suggest birds with mini-bazookas on their beaks, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say I'm looking forward to The Birds 2.0: Bye Bye Birdie. Naomi Watts is one of my favorite actresses, and she's elevated genre material before (see The Ring). I don't have some great personal attachment to the original film -- it wouldn't even land on my list of Hitchcock's top ten. I'm not saying this new film would be an improvement, but it could be a scary, suspenseful good time. Yes, it's tempting to hate on the filmmakers for not being original, but how many bird attack movies do we get to see in the multiplexes? I'm all for another one. The new Birds is currently scheduled to fly into theaters on July 3, 2009. "Fly," get it? Cuz they're birds. Thank you.
'The Birds' Will Begin Shooting This Year
Filed under: Classics », Horror », Universal », Remakes and Sequels »
At the tail-end of a Variety article about a spec script called Fiasco Heights and the way in which it was sold by a DreamWorks assistant to Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes shingle, there is one casual sentence that reads: "[The production company] aims to begin shooting a remake of "The Birds" for Universal by the end of the year," which is the first new information we've heard about the project since last October (when Naomi Watts was mentioned as a potential leading lady).I guess I was hoping that this project would simply go away, but with Fiasco on the horizon (and something called The Horsemen in pre-production), it looks like producers Michael Bay and Andrew Form have got their attentions re-focused on the avian-centric remake thriller. Those who choose to follow such stories will no doubt remember the producers' claims that their Birds flick will hew closer to the original Daphne Du Maurier story and not the classic Alfred Hitchcock flick -- but I'm guessing if Du Maurier had written another book called Hippo Attack or Revenge of the Squirrels, it's The Birds that'd still be earmarked for a new adaptation. Why? Because, despite the protestations of the filmmakers, they know "The Birds" is a title that everyone already knows. And that's what the remake game is all about: Selling "name recognition" and little else.
Yeah, I'm a little salty about this particular project, and I freely admit it. But if The Birds is going to begin production some time this year, then we should definitely be getting reports on writers, actors and directors some time soon. Maybe my opinion of this remake will improve once some of those names hit the wire ... but I doubt it.
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