At New York Comic Con, remake happy Strike Entertainment producer Eric Newman took time out from promoting “The Thing” to discuss the company’s plans for John Carpenter’s “They Live.” In the original, Roddy Piper plays a homeless wanderer who finds a batch of sunglasses that help him uncover a global conspiracy led by aliens trying to seduce humans into complacency through Reagan-era capitalism. He then shoots them all in the face.
Apparently, the glasses might not be an integral part of the remake. I09 spoke to Newman, who revealed D.B. Weiss (“Game Of Thrones”) would be writing the remake, and he shared details about what they are considering for this planned update. When asked about the sunglasses, he said, “We’re discussing that. I’d like to say that really, a vagrant wandering around the streets could get you to try on his sunglasses, if he would leave you alone afterwards. He may even pay you $100, ‘Hey put these on.’ So we’re kind of exploring different versions of what is that thing that allows you to see. But I’m not going to tell you what it is. It might be something different than sunglasses.” So that’s what caused JC’s seizure this weekend (Get well, John).
If not glasses, then what? “They Live” is the sort of idea that could probably be adapted for each generation, but one of the more memorable scenes of an unforgettable movie is Piper trying to convince Keith David to “Put on the glasses!” via fistfight, resulting in one of the longest onscreen fistfights in cinematic history. To try to top it is foolish, but to eliminate it entirely? Perish the thought.