Remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still?
Daniel Swensen
I couldn’t find it in my heart to post this the same day as Vincent Macropod, as I feared it would break Reverend Matt’s will. Hollywood North reports that there may be a remake of the 1951 Robert Wise masterpiece on the way.
According to our sources, Scott Derrickson - last here in 2005 to direct The Exorcism of Emily Rose - will helm Fox’s remake of their classic 1951 science fiction film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, currently prepping for production here in Vancouver.
The original was directed by legendary filmmaker Robert Wise, who passed away in 2005, and tells the story of an alien (Klaatu) and his mighty robot (Gort) who land their spacecraft on Cold War-era Earth just after the end of World War II. The travelers bring an important message for humanity that Klaatu wishes all the representatives of Earth to hear, but that proves more difficult to disseminate fairly than he had anticipated, prompting him to take a more bold approach.
The time frame of the remake will likely be updated, though no specifics are available yet.
Derrickson’s outgoing project is Paradise Lost, a live-action film version of John Milton’s epic 1667 poem, produced by Legendary Pictures, which tells the story of Lucifer’s failed rebellion in heaven and subsequent role in Adam and Eve’s fall from grace.
The Day the Earth Stood Still is scheduled to shoot until next November, making it one of the longest theatrical shoots ever to film in this region.
Now, although all my instincts scream to the contrary, I want to believe that there is a possibility for this to be good. The original film’s message — that we, as a race, must overcome our own stupidity and selfishness or be exterminated — is a powerful and immortal one. I might even say it deserves to be said again, even if it means a remake. But if this remake reduces Wise’s lessons on mass stupidity to irony, I’m going to start building a Gort of my own.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:42 am
So yeah, if anyone wants to, you know, just kill me, please feel free.
Thanks, though, for not posting this on Vincent Macropod day.
April 19th, 2007 at 9:24 am
That was the will-crushing news? I thought you were canceling Vincent Macropod or announcing that a plastic shortage was grinding the action-figure industry to a halt.
April 19th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Pete, the Reverend’s love for The Day The Earth Stood Still knows no bounds.
Also, how could I cancel Vincent Macropod? Never mind why!
April 19th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
You killed Sammy Davis, Jr.!
No, seriously. This is one of those tough ones - more people need to see this movie and get it, and they probably won’t in its current form (because people are fucking morons), but they’re tinkering with genius here, and that’s fraught with disaster!