Who is the asshole who decided to remake "The Day the Earth Stood Still"

[peruban]

What's next? A remake of Casablanca? Gone with the Wind? The Wizard of Oz?

When does it stop? The Day the Earth Stood Still is such a powerful classic they can't possibly do it proper justice. And Keanu Reeves? Seriously? When are casting directors going to realize he's a terrible actor. I think he may have about two or three good movies, nothing memorable, but it doesn't make up for ruining "Much Ado About Nothing", which would have been perfect except to his horrendous Shakespearean acting. Even Denzel Washington was great in that movie and he's no Shakespearean actor himself, either.

So, then, :wtf:

[ThomCat]

1. There is no movie so good, so classic, so sacred

that they can't remake it and ruin it for a quick few million bucks. x(

They don't give a damn about art when there is money on the line.

[peruban]

2. Have they really run out of ideas so bad they have to reach back for story lines?

What they hell do they pay writers for anyway?

[ThomCat]

3. There is a lot less risk in paying a writer to re-write a know classic

than there is in producing something brand new. Something brand new might flop. The remake is almost guaranteed to at least break even.

So they pay the writer to work on the safer project to guarantee a stream of money coming in.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

53. I believe that's the Disney Effect

Why pay someone to come up with an original thought when they can simply pay hacks a pittance to revamp old ones? Only in this case, everyone looks like Keanu or Tom instead of the little mermaid. Remakes and sequels, even straight-to-video crap probably makes them money if they cut corners on everything possible.

Honestly, they could have done so much better for Michael Rennie's part if they really had to do this--someone exotic and/or androgynous (is Bowie too old?), with a cool accent. Even the guy from The Pianist would have been more convincing than Ted's (Not So) Excellent Ripoff. :(

[Auggie]

10. Loaded with special effects too. I'm so tired of seeing things blown up.

[NewJeffCT]

36. and damn that Shakespeare for rehashing old works, too

what a hack, just rehashing classics.

[Rhiannon12866]

4. I thought pretty much the same thing tonight when I saw a commercial for it...

:shrug:

Movie makers have so little imagination that they remake the same ones, over and over...:-(

[Tom Kitten]

5. "Forbidden Planet" remake in the works

J. Michael Straczynski is writing the script but says it's not a remake...

http://www.filmstalker.co.uk/archives/2008/12/forbidden_planet_film_not_a_re.html

[Fire Walk With Me]

45. It stands a better chance of being good with Joe on board than not.

Some folks "get it" and he's one of them.

[geomon666]

6. I think it looks alright.

Won't have the same impact as the original but then again, times change. By the way, they've already remade The Wizard of Oz and there are talks of remaking Casablanca.

[peruban]

20. Blasphemers!!

I have seen The Wizard of Oz in different treatments, Tin Man from the sci-fi network comes to mind. I really liked that version since it was a much darker and detailed than the original Wizard of Oz, but it's no replacement, they reinvented the story very creatively.

And if I see a remake of Casablanca I might just have to fly out to Hollywood and go postal on some producer's ass.

[NewJeffCT]

35. the original Wizard of Oz movie

was far less dark than the books, if I recall.

[Iggo]

7. What's next?

Karate Kid.
Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes.
Slaughterhouse-Five.
Poltergeist.
Red Sonja.
Captain Blood.
Rock 'n' Roll High School.
Robocop.
Red Dawn.
Valley Girl.
Highlander.
The Fury.
Short Circuit.
Rosemary's Baby.
Nightmare On Elm Street.
Metropolis.
Death Wish.
The Big Chill.
Footloose.
Taps.

And there's more...I just got tired of typing.

Peruse:

http://www.themovieinsider.com/classic-remakeville/

[coyotespaw]

9. Duh, Citizen Kane; starring Ben Affleck...

enjoy the mental image...

[peruban]

22. I hope you're joking about Citizen Kane.

That would just make me soil myself in shock.

[Frank Cannon]

52. I think that is a joke

Although it's tough to tell. I can actually see Ben Affleck trying to do something like that.

[Frank Cannon]

12. Rock 'n' Roll High School? You gotta be kidding.

[peruban]

21. OMG!!

Some of those weren't so good to begin with, IMO, but others in that list should be left along I think.

[Iggo]

25. Yep.

And most of the rest were only charming because they sucked so bad. (Red Dawn, Footloose, etc...)

You can't recapture the charming suckage, man.

[Frank Cannon]

51. Oh, you can be sure they'll recapture the suckage

Just none of the charm.

[NYCGirl]

31. This really sucks. And some of my favorite classic films:

Midnight

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0031647/

Rififi

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048021/

Strangers on a Train (my fave Hitchcock film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044079/

Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (good Fritz Lang noir)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049006/

The Lavender Hill Mob

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044829/

Witness for the Prosecution

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051201/

Also:

Topper
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

[Connonym]

8. I agree and I also think there should be a penalty for people who remake Jane Austen movies

How many versions of Pride and Prejudice do we need anyway? I think it's been done in film about 6 times :eyes: Ridiculous

[Frank Cannon]

11. Keanu Reeves must give one hell of a blow job

to keep getting acting gigs. Seriously.

[DarkTirade]

13. ... mental note, get a job in movie casting...

:evilgrin:

[azmouse]

14. The previews of the movie don't seem to have any relation to the original story line.

Why didn't they call this new movie something else? Why desecrate a classic movie?

[peruban]

23. My guess is that they couldn't reach far enough to make it a different movie.

If it still has the same message and plot then they may have cited copyright infringement or something. Just a random guess.

[jobycom]

15. Why? Was the first one good or something? Christ, it was made before I was born

And while I'm not old, I ain't that young, either.

Most movies are interpretations of some other medium, anyway. Short stories, novels, plays, other movies. All art reinterprets older themes.

If it's good, it's good. If it's not, it's not. Who cares if it was made almost a lifetime ago? What is original by now anyway?

[redqueen]

17. Yeah, I don't get the outrage either.

It's a fucking movie. Christ, it's not like the old ones become unusable once the new version is out.

Just don't see it if you don't want to. Fucksake with the bitching.

[peruban]

26. I don't mean to come off as a whiner here, but it does irritate me they decided to remake it.

Sure, it's "just a movie". They just hurt my feelings, that's all. :-(

[PVnRT]

40. But...but...it's not the ORIGINAL!!!

I think that's about the only whine, at least until the movie actually comes out. Then, if you want to say it sucks, go ahead.

I don't get all of the pissing and moaning about remakes either. If these people had their way, "Hamlet" would have been performed only once.

[peruban]

24. Good point.

The first one is a classic, it's right up there with Hitchcock classics and Rod Serling story lines. It was a very powerful movie for it's anti-war message and the message was well put.

I just can't believe they've remade one of my favorite science fiction movies of all time.

[jobycom]

29. That's funny. I was a big sci-fi guy in high school. Conventions, and all.

And I've never seen it. Judging from the stills I just googled, I guess I always figured it looked hokie. So maybe a remake will get me interested in the story.

My favorite old classic sci-fi was Forbidden Planet, and I'd love to see a remake of that. Be interesting to see what they could do with Robbie.

[jobycom]

16. BTW, Robert Rodriquez is remaking Barbarella.

[peruban]

27. That one I can see.

The original was hokey and b-movieish. A good treatment of that on might be quite fun.

[rcrush]

18. What? Denzel is bad ass.

[peruban]

28. I agree, Denzel whips some major butt.

I'm just not used to seeing him do Shakespeare, it's not his thing. He was very good, I was just saying that any actor worth his weight could have replaced Keanu in that movie.

[rcrush]

19. nt double post

[ChickMagic]

30. Keanu is no Michael Rennie

That's for damn sure. I believe they looked at the classic and decided
there was not enough carnage and blowing stuff up. They wanted to blow
stuff up real good. Who is the female supporting actress? Paris Hilton?
What do you want to bet that there will be alien sex?

[Auggie]

33. FYI: Rennie was cast because he was not a well-known actor

The producers wanted someone unfamiliar -- "alien" -- to American audiences. That made the Klatu character even better, IMO.

You don't see risky thinking like that too much any more.

[ChickMagic]

39. Absolutely!

He also had a way of sounding like English was an unfamiliar tongue to him. His English was perfect, but it sounded like a second language. And he never said, "Whoa".

on edit: They may as well have cast Billy Mays in the remake. :7

[NewJeffCT]

41. Like

casting Lord of the Rings with (at best) 2nd tier actors and filming all 3 movies at once, when people like Al Pacino and Sean Connery had been discussed for leading roles?

or filming a movie like Brokeback Mountain?

[Auggie]

43. Exceptional films, too

[unpossibles]

44. Jennifer Connelly

Which for me will give me a reason to at least consider seeing it, since she has such a huge crush on me....

[ChickMagic]

46. Well, she has some chops

since she has a crush on you and all. :rofl:

[derby378]

32. I'll give the remake a go

Keanu may have been a disaster in Bram Stoker's Dracula, but he's exactly what the Matrix trilogy needed.

[NewJeffCT]

34. Maybe they thought the original movie's message was still important today

and that a new movie would have more impact in promoting that message than repeats of the original on TV?

[ghostsofgiants]

37. I wanna know when people are going to stop being shocked...

That Hollywood is making a shitty remake of a classic or foreign film. It's pretty much all they've been doing for years.

[cemaphonic]

54. Yeah, even the Coen Bros got into the sucky remake craze.

Though I have heard that it was a project they picked up late in development.

The Day the Earth Stood Still is overrated anyway.

[Bake]

38. Danny DeVito in The Godfather.

That's what's next.

Bake

[DarkTirade]

47. ... dude, that would be AWESOME.

:thumbsup:

:P

[RandomThoughts]

42. Actor choice can be more meta then one film.

Keanu Reeves could have been picked because he played Neo in Matrix.

The role in matrix makes him some spiritual 'one' 'The Day The Earth Stood Still', moves that same role back to the normal role. Alien is normal not supernatural if you assume tech and science is their methods.

So the association of past roles can be leveraged into choices for casting an actor.

[Bake]

48. Is that the "Klaatu barada nikto" film?

Who plays Gorn in the remake?

Bake

[The_Casual_Observer]

49. They could have at least cast David Bowie As Klaatu.

The ONLY person who could ever measure up to Rennie. It'll be shitty, like Starship Troopers & War of the Worlds were.

[Critters2]

50. Probably the same asshole who decided to remake "The Manchurian Candidate".

Even Meryl Streep couldn't make that work. And why? Because it was perfect the first time!!