File this under pointless and unnecessary. Starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, Robert Aldrich's "What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?" is a demented classic, so why Walter Hill feels the need to rewrite and remake the damn thing is beyond us.
But plow ahead he will, as the helmer was apparently approached by Warner Bros. — who are releasing his next effort, "Bullet To The Head," starring Sylvester Stallone — with the idea of tinkering with the movie and updating it. Or actually, they're going to keep it period based, but more contemporary and classic. Confused? Let Walter Hill explain: “The intensity of the Gothic storyline makes a reconfiguration of the drama still a potentially searing experience. The idea is to make a modern film without modernizing the period. It needs to resonate the golden age of Hollywood.” Yeah, we don't know what that means either.
The original film tells the story of two sisters, and retired actresses, who are living together in a crumbling mansion. The crippled Blanche, who was the far more successful one of the pair, relies on the care of Jane (a former child star), who wants to return to her career, and who has become bitter and abusive towards her sister. But when Jane learns that Blanche might sell the house, and lock up her up in a sanitorium, things get out of control. Frankly, it's one of a kind and attempting to remake or contemporize it or whatever Hill is trying to do seems kind of pointless as Alridch already knocked this one out of the park. But since there is a subset of audiences who refuse to watch anything in black and white or made before 1980, we guess there is a market for it. Mabye that can make it in 3D too! Maybe in 4D with bird feathers floating on the audience!
But it's gonna happen one way or another, so we might as well grit our teeth and bear it. Any suggestions on who should play the sisters? [Deadline]