Is nothing sacred? Remaking Casablanca.

[Frunobulax]

Casablanca 2017...In Space.

 

[Fading Fast]

Casablanca 2017...In Space.

Laszlo and Ilsa's plane had much more lift than I expected.

 

[Bushman]

"If that rocket leaves the ground and you're not with him, you'll regret it. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life."

 

[MikeKardec]

A good soldier adjusts and adapts, makes the terrain work to his advantage. The hell with the war and hitching a free French garrison in Brazzaville and killing Rommel.
Rick should book seats on a plane to Eamon DeValera's neutral Ireland and settle with Ilsa in a Dublin brownstone. Red meat, hard liquor, and soft beautiful Ilsa.
But there would remain the moral dilemma of duty....

Yes but ... she'd just keep saying "Rick, you'll have to think for the both of us. I'm too emotional to save myself ... I can't ... I mustn't ... weepy, weepy, weepy ..." Eventually, the fact that she looks like Ingrid Bergman would wear off and he'd volunteer for a suicide mission. "Just drop me on Berlin like a bomb, Major. No need to waste the parachute."

By the way, anyone seen Passage to Marseilles? Kind of a propaganda film with all the Warner's greats BUT it has a fantastically complicated structure and I remember a spot where you come out of a flashback, through a flashback which is in a flashback and eventually you emerge from another flashback. It was sort of like a 1940s Christopher Nolan dropped acid and went crazy with the "wavey picture" effect they all used to denote a flashback or fantasy. There were several layers and coming back to reality made you a bit seasick.

 

[Frunobulax]

LOL.

It could have made and interesting episode of Deep Space Nine.

Sisko would have to be Renault.

...which would leave the part of Rick to Quark...

 

[Touchofevil]

... Of course, Gleeson is one of the most gifted character actors ever to grace the screen...

A very underrated actor. He has been top notch in everything I have seen him in. One of my favorites.

 

[LizzieMaine]

LOL.

It could have made and interesting episode of Deep Space Nine.

Sisko would have to be Renault.

...which would leave the part of Rick to Quark...

Rule of Acquisition No. 187 -- Stick Your Neck Out For No One, Unless The Price Is Right.

 

[AdeeC]

I had a conversation with a dear friend that commenced with her remarks about, "that scene where the German officers are singing a Nazi song." I loved pointing out that the song, Die Wacht am Rhein was written long before Adolf Hitler was born, and that its lyrics ("Dear fatherland, put your mind at rest, dear fatherland, put your mind at rest, firm stands, and true, the Watch, the Watch at the Rhine! –Firm stands, and true, the Watch, the Watch at the Rhine!" ) are actually far less bellicose than those of the French Marseillaise ("Let's march, let's march! Let an impure blood soak our fields!").

The interesting thing is that the producers wanted to have the Germans singing a real Nazi song- the Horst Wessel Lied- but it was still under copyright and they were afraid of potential lawsuits for infringement in neutral countries. Moral of the story: Rick may not have been intimidated by Hitler's soldiers... but Warner Brothers didn't want to tangle with Hitler's lawyers.

I had a conversation with a dear friend that commenced with her remarks about, "that scene where the German officers are singing a Nazi song." I loved pointing out that the song, Die Wacht am Rhein was written long before Adolf Hitler was born, and that its lyrics ("Dear fatherland, put your mind at rest, dear fatherland, put your mind at rest, firm stands, and true, the Watch, the Watch at the Rhine! –Firm stands, and true, the Watch, the Watch at the Rhine!" ) are actually far less bellicose than those of the French Marseillaise ("Let's march, let's march! Let an impure blood soak our fields!").

The interesting thing is that the producers wanted to have the Germans singing a real Nazi song- the Horst Wessel Lied- but it was still under copyright and they were afraid of potential lawsuits for infringement in neutral countries. Moral of the story: Rick may not have been intimidated by Hitler's soldiers... but Warner Brothers didn't want to tangle with Hitler's lawyers.

THe film carries on a lot about Liberty, Equality and Fraternity and other noble principles but that does not apply to the colonised natives though. They are almost invisible in the film.

 

[Inkstainedwretch]

They are not invisible. They supply the usual suspects.

 

[Formeruser012523]

Reading through this I keep thinking about Robert Zemeckis and what he said when he was approached about a reboot of Back to the Future.

His answer?

"Not while I'm alive."

Which means someday there will be. And it will probably star Justin Beiber.

 

[Worf]

The only remake that MIGHT interest me is "Them!" Done with what they could do with CGI today... those babies would really be threatening! If they did HALF as good a job as they did reimagining "The Thing" I'd be happy!

Worf

 

[Tiki Tom]

The only remake that MIGHT interest me is "Them!" Done with what they could do with CGI today... those babies would really be threatening! If they did HALF as good a job as they did reimagining "The Thing" I'd be happy!

Worf

When I was a kid, me and my little brother would waste entire Saturdays watching old Japanese monster movies. And "Ultra Man" re-runs! It's amazing how much they did with (from our current perspective) zero high-tech effects. Yeah. Don't waste your time on remakes involving meaningful dialogue. I want to see monsters stomping on Tokyo!

 

[Edward]

Reading through this I keep thinking about Robert Zemeckis and what he said when he was approached about a reboot of Back to the Future.

His answer?

"Not while I'm alive."

Which means someday there will be. And it will probably star Justin Beiber.

And he'll be playing Doc Brown.....

Supposedly, it's already being 'reimagined' insofar as, following the success of the stage musical of Matilda for which he wrote the songs, Australian Tim Minchin is supposed to be working on a musical version of Back to the Future. I truly hope that idea dies the death long before it sees the stage, but given that his musical version of Groundhog Day has opened in London to critical acclaim, I may be holding out faint hope. Hey, let people go and see that stuff if they want, I just wish West End Theatre could put out something creative again. I'm bored of jukebox musicals and "let's turn popular film X into a stage show" already. Not that those things should never be done, but it's gotten to the point where they very rarely seem to have any artistic point, and positively reek of "That's a popular brand, it'll sell tickets". I'm not naive enough to think that the theatres aren't interested in the bottom line (most West end productions do well if they're breaking even; it's a rare one as makes the big money), but I wish the theatre would go back to writing its own stories. Hells, there are even so many great musicals they could revive rather than attempt some cheap butchery of a classic film.

 

[Formeruser012523]

What do you think of this, from imdb.com:

"Back in the early-to-mid 2000s, Madonna wanted to remake "Casablanca (1942)" with her playing IIsa Lund and Ashton Kutcher in the role of Rick Blaine. Madonna pitched the idea to every studio but was unanimously rejected by every studio with one studio executive telling her "That film is deemed untouchable". The project has since been scrapped by Madonna."

Apparently not totally scrapped by ALL studios. Ugh.

 

[Touchofevil]

What do you think of this, from imdb.com:

"Back in the early-to-mid 2000s, Madonna wanted to remake "Casablanca (1942)" with her playing IIsa Lund and Ashton Kutcher in the role of Rick Blaine. Madonna pitched the idea to every studio but was unanimously rejected by every studio with one studio executive telling her "That film is deemed untouchable". The project has since been scrapped by Madonna."

Apparently not totally scrapped by ALL studios. Ugh.

That would've been hideous.

 

[Formeruser012523]

And he'll be playing Doc Brown.....

Supposedly, it's already being 'reimagined' insofar as, following the success of the stage musical of Matilda for which he wrote the songs, Australian Tim Minchin is supposed to be working on a musical version of Back to the Future. I truly hope that idea dies the death long before it sees the stage, but given that his musical version of Groundhog Day has opened in London to critical acclaim, I may be holding out faint hope. Hey, let people go and see that stuff if they want, I just wish West End Theatre could put out something creative again. I'm bored of jukebox musicals and "let's turn popular film X into a stage show" already. Not that those things should never be done, but it's gotten to the point where they very rarely seem to have any artistic point, and positively reek of "That's a popular brand, it'll sell tickets". I'm not naive enough to think that the theatres aren't interested in the bottom line (most West end productions do well if they're breaking even; it's a rare one as makes the big money), but I wish the theatre would go back to writing its own stories. Hells, there are even so many great musicals they could revive rather than attempt some cheap butchery of a classic film.

There's a pair. I'd be laughing if it didn't want to make me die inside. I know "we stand on the shoulders of giants" so to speak, when it comes to story. Everything's influenced by something else. But, I do wish there were more people willing to take the risks of coming up with originality instead of what sold in the day so they KNOW it will definitely sell now. *sigh*

 

[LizzieMaine]

The biggest difference between Then and Now is that movies then were far more mass produced than they are now -- the studio system lent itself to an industrialized grind-em-out system that consumed enormous amounts of story material. Probably 90 percent of what came out of Hollywood in the Era was brainless schlock -- forgettable program pictures hacked out according to a formula. But the wide net they cast for material to feed the maw also meant that they were bound to drag in a few interesting, unusual concepts along the way: more writers writing more pictures meant more ideas, and even though most of them stunk, the ones that were decent made it worthwhile. In 1937, the peak year for quantity in Hollywood, 778 features were produced. Last year approximately 300 features were produced in the US. Fewer films to make money mean more films have to make money and less room for experimentation. Result: "Iron Man XXXVI."

Even "indie" films have to hew to certain formulas in order to get a release these days -- "hey, here's an idea, how about a picture about a quirky young woman finding herself in New York! And she's got a slacker boyfriend who doesn't appreciate her and a sassy black best friend who sets her straight when she gets too wacky! And an entry-level job in a glamorous profession but what she really wants to do is dance/act/write/be a juggler in the circus!" "Great! Somebody give Greta Gerwig's agent a call!"

 

[Fading Fast]

What do you think of this, from imdb.com:

"Back in the early-to-mid 2000s, Madonna wanted to remake "Casablanca (1942)" with her playing IIsa Lund and Ashton Kutcher in the role of Rick Blaine. Madonna pitched the idea to every studio but was unanimously rejected by every studio with one studio executive telling her "That film is deemed untouchable". The project has since been scrapped by Madonna."

Apparently not totally scrapped by ALL studios. Ugh.

Perhaps the fact that neither of them can act, let alone carry a movie, had something to do with it, but it is nice to hear the "untouchable" word associated with a remake, if true.

 

[Fading Fast]

...Even "indie" films have to hew to certain formulas in order to get a release these days -- "hey, here's an idea, how about a picture about a quirky young woman finding herself in New York! And she's got a slacker boyfriend who doesn't appreciate her and a sassy black best friend who sets her straight when she gets too wacky! And an entry-level job in a glamorous profession but what she really wants to do is dance/act/write/be a juggler in the circus!" "Great! Somebody give Greta Gerwig's agent a call!"

Two others "indie" formulas that come up are

1. We open with some modern day (or '80s / '90s) middle class elderly couple / woman / man and their grandkid or other younger relative / friend who seem to be living a normal life - "did you get the groceries," "the water heater is out," "Jim and Nancy are coming over for dinner tomorrow -" but we quickly learn that the elderly couple / woman / man were victims of / children at the time of the Nazi's crimes against the Jews. The rest of the movie reveals the story through flashbacks to Nazi Germany that show poignant moments of despair, suffering, grief, rebellion, courage, grit.... The power in these movies is the common, everyday feel of modern life - that we are all familiar with - juxtaposed with the arrant horror and fear that enveloped victims of Nazi Germany. Let me emphasize, I am not making light of, in any way, anything to do with the horrors of the Holocaust - and have found many of these movies very engaging ("Woman in Gold" and "Sarah's Key" are two good ones) - just noting the formulaic approach many of these "indie" movies have.

2. Upper middle class white woman loses husband / gets a divorce and is initially very depressed, but discovers a richer, fuller life via some out-of-her-usual-world catalyst. "Learning to Drive," and "I'll See You in my Dreams" are good examples of this formula.

And there are many variations on the above two formulas that play out - and many are fine, entertaining movies ("The Reader," "The Book Thief," "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel," "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day") - but are hardly edgy or "indie" in the original sense of the word.

 

[LizzieMaine]

That second one you cite there is the single most popular type of picture we get here. If you add in a few gratuitous scenes of middlebrow European tourist settings, you hit our exact demographic right in the bread basket.

I'm looking forward to the remake of "Citizen Kane," starring Jesse Eisenberg.