More Remakes and Reboots: The Bodyguard, Soapdish, Loft, and Hellraiser
Posted 02.25.11 by Ryan
Hollywood's never-ending onslaught of remakes continues! January's remakes and sequels were a varied and surprising bunch, and the most recent crop is no different. This month sees a classic romantic comedy and horror movie get reinvented, while another European thriller gets Americanized and an ensemble comedy gets updated.
Hard to believe that The Bodyguard is almost twenty years old, which may be why Warner Bros. is looking to remake it. Deadline reports that screenwriters Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer will write the remake of the 1992 original, which saw Kevin Costner as an ex-Secret Service Agent who falls for the singer (Whitney Houston) he has been assigned to protect from a stalker. The remake won't stray too far, changing the Costner character to a Iraq War veteran and updating the movie to include cyber-stalking. According to the report, the plan is cast a young singer "with global appeal" in the Houston role.
Another surprising remake is that of the 1991 ensemble comedy Soapdish, which followed the behind the scenes hi-jinx of a daytime soap opera and featured a cast that included Sally Field, Kevin Kline, Robert Downey Jr., Elisabeth Shue, Whoopi Goldberg, and Teri Hatcher. THR reports that Soapdish producer Alan Greisman will co-produce the remake along with Rob Reiner, with actor/writer Ben Schwartz (Peep World) in charge of the script.
Loft isn't the first European movie to get an American remake and it certainly isn't the last. The 2008 Belgian thriller follows five men who begin to suspect each other of murder when a dead woman is found in the loft they all share. Variety reports that original director Erik Van Looy will helm the remake as well, while Wesley Strick (Nightmare on Elm Street) is in charge of rewriting the script. The Loft remake already has a cast with actors Patrick Wilson and James Marsden in talks to star in the movie.
Lastly, the remake, or reboot, of Hellraiser isn't exactly new, with The Weinstein Company attempting to remake the horror classic for years. Screenwriter Todd Farmer and director Patrick Lussier (Drive Angry, My Bloody Valentine 3D) were reportedly hired last October. A Hellraiser remake is sacrosanct to those that have stayed with the franchise through its many sequels, however, CinemaBlend reports that Lussier recently revealed that the duo won't be remaking director/original short story writer Clive Barker's movie.
I think the biggest thing is, and we talked about this a lot recently, is that we have no intention of remaking Clive’s movie. Clive’s movie is obviously not like remaking My Bloody Valentine, or Happy Birthday To Me, or Terror Train or Prom Night — those are all very specific movies at a specific time with a specific purpose. As fun as they are, and that’s not to take away from them, they were clearly business ventures. Hellraiser, obviously, was not. It was a personal story for Clive and Clive is a true artist. It didn’t feel right to us to retell Clive’s story. That’s Clive’s story. At the same time, there have been a variety of Hellraiser movies and movies that play within the world that he created. And none of them have really gone behind the curtain of what that world is. So that was basically what we offered up to Dimension Films as something unique and different that stays true to Clive’s originality, but, at the same time, pays no disrespect to it.
So with Barker's source material thrown out the proverbial window, what will the duo's Hellraiser be about? "We're keeping it within the world of the box," Lussier told ShockTillYouDrop. "What the box is and what the box does."
So it's a remake that isn't a remake. Score one for originality! (We think.)