Remakes or Adaptations?

[sir-roosio]

Inspired by some discussion on the 'Movie discussions' board, I wondered what you would all like to see made (or remade) into a movie!

- Who would star/direct/produce?

- Who most certainly would not star/direct/produce?

- What would you change/keep the same?

Be serious, be funny, be both. I don't really care, but throw some ideas into the wind, and you never know, some Hollywood exec' may find the site and start taking note!

 

Allow me to start!

 

I would like to see a DECENT movie made of Oscar Wilde's 'The Picture Of Dorian Gray'. Especially after the shallow portrayl of this character in the recent 'League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen'.

It's a great book, and I think the mixture of slightly horror(ish) content, and exploration of human feelings would translate into an intelligent and thought provoking film, if done carefully.

First director that springs to mind is Ron Howard, purely for 'A Beautiful Mind' which covers some similar ground with intelligence and passion, or if you want to pull out the big guns, Francis Ford Coppola (is he dead? I always have problems remembering which celebrities are and are'nt) seems to carry off dark and brooding exceptionaly well!

I think Jude Law would be suitable for the lead, possessing both the looks and intelligence to carry it off. 'Disgraced' M.P. Boris Johnson would make a fantastic Lord Henry Wotton (apologies to those who may not be familiar with Mr. Johnson).

 

What do you all think? what would you like to see?

[FullAuto]

This is, admittedly, a totally crazy idea, but how about some actual original films? Y'know, something that isn't a remake or an adaption of an alrady existing work? No, crazy idea, I know.

[Matri]

That's not what this thread is about, FullAuto

[FullAuto]

Ok.

 

I'd like to see a series of films based on the comic 'The Walking Dead'. They could be cheaply filmed on digital cameras (a la 28DL), with plenty of handheld shots and slightly shaky camerawork, filmed from the POV of a group of people trapped in a world of the undead, (perhaps with one of their number feeling compelled to document their existence).

These zombies are the traditional 'slow' kind and have spread to pretty much everywhere except for a few isolated places. Instead of finding a place that took care of all their needs, the survivors would be stuck with a difficult situation, with most supplies being picked clean by looters during the undead uprising, so the focus would be on surviving on a day-to-day basis.

I say series because there's too much to handle in just one film, and because sequels nearly always end up being big bags of shat, so if you plan them, they should turn out ok. You could shoot the next films from the viewpoint of another character, or even a different group of survivors in a different country altogether. Plenty of action could be included.

A bunch of unknowns would star in it, and it'd be directed by someone who could find their arse with both hands. Script would have to be pretty good.

 

Better?

[Ivory]

i love it!!! im an unknown, can i be in it???

[FullAuto]

Yes. You can play the witty sardonic joker with an uncaring exterior but a warm heart undern- wait, no, sorry, that's a stupid Hollywood cliche.

You can be in it, yes.

[Ivory]

dont dis cliches...there cliches for a reason

[FullAuto]

Because people are unimaginitive and stupid?

[Ivory]

get you mr.bitch

 

when youve tried them properly,youll see you like some of them cros my heart you will.

and if you dont,yu aint done them properly.

[FullAuto]

I've tried plenty, and sadly have been disappointed. Almost continually.

[Ivory]

aint done them proper!

[FullAuto]

I'll keep that in mind. Would you care to suggest an idea for a film while you're here?

[Ivory]

i think they should make a film about a girl, who meets the guy whos big and scary but turns out to have a heart of gold, and they become bestest friends even tho they live miles apart.

[FullAuto]

Sounds dangerously cheesy. It'd take one hell of a script, plus a pair of damn good leads to get it right.

[Ivory]

itys one of those 'nevr could be real' kinnda stories aint it!

 

i think it could really work tho...esp if the ending is left open so there is no ending...im all up for not giving people wot they want, not entierly anyway. then they could m,ake up there own minds how it ensds!

[FullAuto]

Doesn't sound like a remake or an adaptation.

[Ivory]

isnt that wot you wanted?

[FullAuto]

What I want and what this thread is about are two different things.

[Hobbes]

What I want and what this thread is about are two different things.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Swap "thread" with "reality" and you have described the dilemma of human existence

 

To get this thread back on topic, I have just seen the remake of one of my all time favorite tv series, Battlestar Galactica and I must say I am impressed by it. I still prefer the old ship miniatures to the CGI effects but the plot (a rag tag fleet of human survivors escaping from aliens who have almost erradicated the human race) is much more bizantine and catching than the original series (I only saw the first 3 episodes of the new series though).

Some things are quite different though: two of the main characters are women now (Starbuck and Boomer), there's a lot of almost explicit scenes going on, the main human villain is now simply egotistical rather than a power hungry megalomaniac and you don't see different height robot aliens because they are all done on CGI and not by actors dressed in chrome suits.

 

Is anyone seeing it too?

[Zeno]

They named a character Starbuck? Starbuck?!

 

OMFG

 

------

 

There's a quote somewhere from a television producer 50 some years ago, though I couldn't find it after a quick google search. It went something like, "if you find something that works, then do it to death." I'm sure the producer must've been American.

 

Remakes are fine. Some tell the story in a different way, some find a way to "improve" the original through technology, some simply want to compliment the original by producing an updated classic. Personally, I like a good remake--if nothing else, it's good for nostalgia.

 

But if the remake is an insult to the original, then nostalgia be damned, there is no excuse for the money-grubbing illusion of art you're infesting theatres and televisions with.

 

------

 

Instead of remakes, I think a "part 2" or a prequel is a much better marketing gimmick. You're not displacing the original, you're adding some new and original part of the story, and if you screw it up, it's somewhat forgiveable.

 

I'd kind of like to see a Battlestar Galactica prequel. Along the same lines, I wouldn't mind seeing a Buck Rogers remake (interesting concept, but vast room for improvement). The movie and series, V, should not be remade--it was a classic, but then spiraled down into a pit of cliched dung during the second season. The story was told, and the prequel was the movie. Any attempt to remake it should aim at a "part 2," set in the same universe, but with a wholly new concept.

 

--Zeno

[sir-roosio]

Surely the prequel to battlestar star galactica is "Lots of humans in a particular area of the galaxy living in utopia unaware of the Cylon (spelling?) threat?" or do you have other ideas?

 

(Incidentaly, My neice got an electronic microphone for xmas that fed your voice through and made it come out the other end robotic. . .hours of fun walking round saying 'the human fleet has been sighted' and 'By Your Command' and she didnt have a clue wot i meant!)

 

gee, a buck rodgers film. they would have to make tweeky (twinky? spelling and pronounciation this time!) exactly 68.21% less annoying before i would consider watching that! Ort di they not already 'remake' Buck Rodgers in the form of Farscape? Contemporary pilot ends up in a strange place? Only it was the far flung universe instead of the far flung future. any thoughts?

 

Also, whilst I'm here, would love to see a reamke of classic British war film The Dambusters. Dont touch the plot, dont touch the script, dont try to make it some huge bravado trip and miss out the human interest aspect of the original. Just destroy the dams in glorious, brand new, top-of-the-range CGI and watch me shed a patriotic cheer as barnes-wallis wipes his glasses at the news!

[FullAuto]

Also, whilst I'm here, would love to see a reamke of classic British war film The Dambusters. Dont touch the plot, dont touch the script, dont try to make it some huge bravado trip and miss out the human interest aspect of the original. Just destroy the dams in glorious, brand new, top-of-the-range CGI and watch me shed a patriotic cheer as barnes-wallis wipes his glasses at the news!

 

"Nigger! Here, boy! I say, old chap, have you seen Nigger?"

 

(Please, no tirades, ok? It's the name of the dog in the film. I know it's not PC but it's bloody funny.)

[Hobbes]

Surely the prequel to battlestar star galactica is "Lots of humans in a particular area of the galaxy living in utopia unaware of the Cylon (spelling?) threat?" or do you have other ideas?

 

If you took the original series then you would have to set the action 1000 yahrens before Galactica, which is the time when the war with the Cylons started. Then there wouldn't be much to tell: the Cylons decide to exterminate another race, the humans decide to help their friends and all starts.

I am liking the new series because it expands the original concept: instead of the Cylons simply going after the humans because they see themselves as the force to bring order to the universe, the Cylons now were made originally by the humans and rebelled. There's a lot of religion tones (like in the original series), with the Cylons seeing themselves as God's way of punishing mankind's sins and replacing them with a more perfect race. But at the same time the Cylons are interested in humans for some unknown propose, making them less robotic on their motives.

 

Starbuck?

 

Starbuck is the man! (or the woman on the new series) He drinks, he gambles, he swears, he is insubordinate, he smokes cigars and he manages to get himself out of any complicated situation, either when fighting Cylons on his fighter or when hitting upon women

 

One adaptation I'd like to see on TV is definitely X-COM. The game plot is too long for a movie but it would fit nicely into a series. On first season you would simply the initial phase of the game, with X-COM being established and the initial alien enconters, with the usual cliff hanger at the end of the series. If it worked, then you could continue the story over the next seasons but with a major difference: the series would end with the Cydonia mission. One of the things that really annoys me about TV series is how producers keep playing the same elements over and over until finally the show turns to so much crap that they pull the plug on it, leaving a lot of things unanswered.

[FullAuto]

Thinking about it, there are quite a few books that could be translated to film, as long as they do a decent job. Shame hardly anyone bothers and relies on just the love of the book.

 

Shaun Hutson's 'Exit Wounds' (nothing to do with the incredibly rubbish DMX/Steven Seagal film) is a book worthy of making into a film. It's about a bunch of armed robbers who steal a gang lord's money by accident and get involved with a load of coke-dealing Yardies. Various gun battles abound around London. Not the most original of plots, but it's an excellent book.

John Woo would direct (the shootouts demand it), with Robert Carlyle, Ray Winstone, Gary Oldman, Tim Roth and Sean Bean playing the gangsters, the ever-greasy Ian McShane as the gang lord and Ving Rhames as the head Yardie. This would never get off the ground, presumably because British films make Americans cry (or something) but I can dream.

[Aralez]

Do you know why you see remakes of films in certain time-spans? Simply because the copyrights for a story/music are no longer active then. Iirc 20 years and e.g. a piece of music is considered "Free-to-clone", that's why you hear so many 80's songs badly remade atm. Why should a lousy composer strive for own ideas when he can simply copy-n-paste good-and-tested songs into a new outfit ?

 

See "Mad World" or "Land of Confusion" etc etc etc.

 

Simply take the old song, fill in some bass, let a rapper sing two words in the background, add some flashy fx: Done !

 

Btw, Mickey Mouse and some other Disney patents are normally free now too, but iirc those Disney-Lawyers found a way of preventing this by some kind of trickery. I don't know the exact way, maybe someone with more knowledge about dirty law-tricks can help us....

 

 

Accounting Troll, you should have some essential knowledge there, i guess :lol: :lol: