A little bit of forward momentum on a couple of projects that have been brewing for the past little while now.
First up, Deadline reports that MGM is pushing ahead with their proposed remake of “Carrie.” Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, who was given the unenviable task of rewriting the disastrous Broadway production “Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark” — and who is a co-producer and writer of “Glee” — will take his pen to the Stephen King novel. The version will reported be truer to the novel than Brian De Palma‘s classic film, with comparisons being made to the Coen‘s “True Grit” in terms of being a complete reinvention. But even King himself doesn’t really see the point of this all. He recently told EW, “I’ve heard rumblings about a ‘Carrie’ remake, as I have about ‘The Stand‘ and ‘It.’ Who knows if it will happen? The real question is why, when the original was so good? I mean, [it’s] not ‘Casablanca,’ or anything, but a really good horror-suspense film, much better than the book. Piper Laurie really got her teeth into the bad-mom thing. Although Lindsay Lohan as Carrie White… hmmm. It would certainly be fun to cast. I guess I could get behind it if they turned the project over to one of the Davids: Lynch or Cronenberg.” We’re not so sure about Lohan there, but yeah, we’d get behind a Lynch or Cronenberg version, but the likelihood of that is pretty much zilch.
Next, Warner Bros. are moving forward quickly on their plans to reboot “Fletch.” THR reports that after picking up the rights to the novels back in February, the studio has hired David Mandel (“Seinfield,” “Eurotrip” and Sacha Baron Cohen‘s forthcoming “The Dictator“) to write the script. Being aimed as a top tier, A-list project at the studio, the former Chevy Chase starrer will be retooled into a broader, grander action comedy. So basically, pretty much nothing like the original movie or its sequel. Might as well start paging Bradley Cooper now.