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Is it time for yet another loverly remake? MY FAIR LADY in the works...
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. The remake craziness keeps on going with a remake of MY FAIR LADY. Columbia is doing it with LOVE, ACTUALLY producer Duncan Kenworthy and Keira Knightley is in talks to portray Eliza Doolittle, made famous by Audrey Hepburn.
The producers promise to bring the original's music and score, but they also want to flesh out the characters a little more by going back to the original material by Alan Jay Lerner (who also adapted his own work with the '64 movie) as well as the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, which served as the basis for the story.
It might not be a popular opinion, but I kinda like Knightley for the role. Hepburn had something you can't replicate, but you could do a lot worse than Knightley for the part if they're bound and determined to remake it. Who'd be a good Rex Harrington? Thoughts?
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fuck yes
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fuck no! stop with the goddamn remakes!
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Bring on transformers2 already !!!!!
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Now you're messing with the classics, fer chrissakes can't someone come up with a decent idea? Is this what the writers strike gave us? I'm picturing Mr Burns writing monkeys as where Hollywood gets this stuff from now ... "It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times? You stupid monkeys!"
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Knightley has the personality of a plank of wood! She's terrible! I mean, she's just a terrible actress. Remaking My Fair Lady is yet another bad idea. Hollywood is creatively bankrupt. Apart from Jim Cameron of course.
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We are all tired...
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Just stop with the remakes already. Please.
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with some people and its been around for years; it might be more interesting to make a slightly more realistic, location-based version of Pygmalion as opposed to a wholesale My Fair Lady remake with the score and songs etc
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...not one single actor cares what's put before them as far as a script of idea goes. "you want me to be in this...cha ching...ok" rather than..."hey this is pretty darn original, i'll do it"
not quite the genre news this site is famous for reporting.
you've lost more man points quint. -
I'm not sure who would make a good Rex Harrington as i have never heard of this gentleman. A good Rex Harrison on the other hand, well...
Stopping with the nit-picking Knightley would be terrible, why, because stick her next to a plank of wood and see who's the better actor! She's a terrible actress with zero range. Hepburn was a legend Knightley could never be. Remake it, sure, why not, it's been done time and again on stage but at least pick a worthy actor not just a "posh British bird". Winslet would be a much better choice if is has to be someone famous, but can't they learn from their mistakes. I love Hepburn but everyone knows they should have gone with Julie Andrews but wouldn't because she wasn't well known enough - for crying out loud, get it right, cast Laura Michelle Kelly or someone like that who is an award-winning musical theatre actress, can cut it as a great straight actress (i recently saw her in Mamet's Spped-The-Plow and she was great). She's leagues ahead of Knightley. Then just get a bigger name for Higgins, he's an older guy so a name makes sense, and Harrison talk-sang the part anyway so it doesn't need the musical ability Eliza needs. My suggestion: Michael Caine. -
but honestly why mess with a classic?
Martine McCutcheon or Michelle Ryan as Ms Doolittle. it has to be an east ender! -
Can i have a part in this please. I'll be the lady if you like. I bet I could get Michael Bay or Brett Ratner to direct it too (maybe they could co-direct, yipee what a great idea) You see I may be little but I'm full of great ideas. But please just give me a job. I need people to like me again.
If not i'll have to get all sceintologic on you and you know you'll all wind up sucking Cruise's cock. -
in the Jeremy Brett role. Then we could have a real cinematic debacle on our hands. And get Ratner or McG to direct. Genius.
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The local theater in my town is putting on a production of My Fair Lady this fall and I was just cast as Colonel Pickering, no joke. Granted I'm probably not as popular as who they'll cast for the remake, but if the producers want to come check me out I'd be happy to get them some tickets LOL.
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Just... Jesus Christ, stop it. No more remakes. I know I'm just one person, but for fuck's sake. To think I use to bemoan the onslaught of sequals every year, at least that's something quasi-new.
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I'm beyond getting pissed off at these now. It's just silly.
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remake that it's prime for the taking!
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Is Ms. Doolittle shooting lazers from her eyes? Does she hafta cut her own leg off to escape the rarified parlors of Victorian London?
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and look how well that turned out.
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not a fan of remaking this, but if they do it - I'd have fun and let Chris Walken try Rex's role.
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No singing and dancing in it, though.
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They could have done better.
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remake that, perfect
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They won't cast singers. Despite it being a musical. The two leads in the original (Rex and Audrey) weren't singers, but at least they dubbed Marni Nixon over Audrey. These days we get Johnny Depp and Renee Zellweger croaking it out at sub-amateur level and expecting praise because they "do their own singing". Not good enough!
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Jun 06, 2008 7:18:38 AM CDT
Hollywood is dying for a musical of old make a god damm hollywoo
by mr_x
seriously. its money in the bank. half the world watched Hollywood, the other half watch Bollywood. You want an old fashioned musical / love story it's fricking there. Instant audience. something new.
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Please stop. Message ends.
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I love the original movie. This news activates my inner Hulk Smash. BAH.
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Either one works. I so wouldn't care about this, other than my first girlfriend was in the play in High School (barely... thankfully. She sucked.), and it was somewhat entertaining. I know for a fact that if I had been watching Keira Knightley up on that stage, I'd have been a LOT more interested. But yah, I'm digging either of the Hugh's for this one.
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Why can't Hollywood come up with new ideas instead of remaking movies that were already amazing in the first place? I am already pissed enough that they are remaking the Taking of Pelham 1,2,3. Now I have to be pissed that they are trying to remake my favorite musical.
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Remakes of remakes? I think they should start remaking a movie one year after it comes out and that way they can stay one step ahead.
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You know, like the Jubilee show in Las Vegas.
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In the works.
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He can sing and dance, and he's British. Brilliant suggestion.
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Why don't we just make 2 of every movie from here on out, so we don't ever have to wonder what the story would look like if someone else did it. Like the last installment of the Exorcist.
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COME ON! Followed by a PG version revisioning of A Clockwork Orange, you know FOR KIDS!
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As much as I loathe the idea of this as a remake, Kenneth Branaugh as Henry Higgins would be perfect.
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The Hiphop remake coming in 2009..
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For God's sake, people, it's Rex Harrison, not "Harrington." Just because Quint got it wrong (which is appalling enough) is no reason to keep perpetuating the error.
(Except for filmcoyote, of course, whom I fear was a little too subtle in his sarcasm . . . ) -
He saw when he was 10 and loved everything about it. This is why he's decided everything about it needs changing. F-words, maiming and R-Rating to follow...
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A hard 'R' version of My Fair Lady.
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Ian McKellan would be more age-appropriate for the role of Higgins. Timothy Dalton might actually be a good choice. Dunno if he can sing though.
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I doubt it. I like her, but she would be a terrible choice for this role. I would rather see her in a Roman Holiday remake. Gasp...did I just say that out loud?
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Kate Winslet and Michel Caine- but he is 75 a little old for a romance, how about David Hyde Pierce or I like Lazyboy42's idea of Christopher Walken.
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Actually Michael Caine would be an excellent choice. Since the show is not a romance and there is no real relationship between the two leads, he would be ideal. Good thought Cinemadamsel!
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You all should know that by now.
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Listen. There should be a rule about remakes. ONLY REMAKE BAD MOVIES...that way, there is a chance you could improve upon the original. My Fair Lady, Like King Kong before it is a great movie, one that needs never be remade. Every time they try to remake a classic film, (even musicals like The Music Man and South Pacific) they fail miserably. So, why do it?
Grrrrrrrr.... -
But seriously, I thought after the fire at Universal they'd finally got the message. Looks like I've got to nuke the place next time!!
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Wow, Hugh Laurie is a great option! Remember though, the actor doesn't have to sing. Rex Harrison kind of spoke most of the songs in the original versions.
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The whole 'pygmalion' idea has been done to death and I can't imagine a My Fair Lady remake doing that well today, considering how incredibly classist and sexist the story is, even considering it as a period film. Oh and can Keira actually sing?
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Why can't they stop with the remakes? To mess with such a classic and cast a pretty plank of wood as Eliza is a terrible notion. I so hope this goes the way of Robin Williams' Kind Hearts and Coronets and merely scares us all for a while but doesn't actually happen.
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The challenge for anyone playing Henry is deciding whether to imitate Rex Harrison or to have a new take on the role. I know that the most recent revival of the stage show has a Henry who actually signs the part.
I am not thrilled with the idea of a remake of the movie since the version that they did it pretty darn definitive. I do not know what they think can be added to what already exists. -
There was actually a revival last year, sort of a staged concert, with Kelsey Grammar as Henry Higgins that was excellent. I don't know if he is a big enough name to sell tickets, but he was great in the role. I just watched this last week on TCM, and, as always enjoyed it. What is amazing is that the film is genuinely un-pc funny, and pulls no punches. The problem with the original, just as with the stage version, is that it is too long. It really can be quite boring for long stretches, and the songs are often repetitive. Burton did a great job reducing the length of Sweeney Todd by about 40 minutes, and they need to have the same sort of rethinking with My Fair Lady, which will infuriate purists, but which is really necessary to make it work as a movie. A few years ago, ABC did a TV remake of Annie that took it from two and a half hours to an hour and forty five minutes, cutting several musical numbers and sub-plots. I found it to be a great improvement over the original. When Burton made Sweeney Todd his thinking was that it had to work as a film, and the stage version had to go.
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Coling Firth or Hugh Grant. Mark my words.
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Divine Brown for Eliza
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No--it isn't. Its just that with today's audiences anything containing more than 72 minutes of film between the movie logos and the end credits is "too much" from the "I gotta turn my brain off" film-going crowd.
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Remaking My Fair Lady is akin to remaking Ben-Hur or The Ten Commandments. Yeah, there have been various versions, but the deffinitive versions have been out there for a good long time and there is no way anyone will ever create an improved version of such landmark films.
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How frikkin' awesome would that be?
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Either Jackman, Grant and especially Laurie would make a worthy Henry Higgins (although Jackman and Laurie can sing, the role was written for a non-singer). Both Caine and McKellen are much too old for the lead, but either would be good for Colonel Pickering. I dunno; I was thinking Daniel Day-Lewis or Ralph Fiennes would be good has Higgins, too. As for Knightley's possible casting being "heresy" -- Hepburn, while beautiful and a fine actress, was actually a lousy choice for Eliza because 1) she couldn't sing (was dubbed in the film) and 2) was actually too old for the role. Knightley is much closer to what Eliza should be and she CAN sing. What's the big deal? I think she'd be great, and I hope to God she doesn't turn it down and they don't put the execrable Anne Hathaway in the role. She stinks up every movie she's in.
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Which is why Grant, Laurie, Day-Lewis or Fiennes would be great choices (Jackman has a little more trouble with it, but his is OK). Someone on another board mentioned Ewan MacGregor for Higgins, but I think he's too young and he can't do the accent properly (he was shite as Frank Churchill in the Paltrow "Emma").
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i'd drink her douche.
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i'd drink her douche.
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And actually, I'm okay with Hollywood remaking shows that have long and varied theater histories, as the rolls are *meant* to be reinterpreted by various actors over time.
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Seriously, whatever. If Hugh Laurie is in this, I will watch it. But this shouldn't be made at all.
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a Madonna biopic made me laugh. That was funny. Oh and "4 minutes" or whatever its called sucks ass. But I digress.
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and a presence on screen. But great actress she certainly was not!
But even with that I think Knightley would be a terrible choice. But with the people who made the awful Love, Actually on board an inevitable one.
I preferred Wendy Hiller myself... -
Danny Glover as Henry Higgins and Oprah Winfrey as Eliza Doolittle. Obama as the Messiah.
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I really hate to see these things, I just think it's awful when they remake a classic, because it never even comes close to the original. What's next, a remake of Singing in the Rain, starring George Clooney, Scarlett Johansen, and Jack Black? Wait, that might be something worth seeing. Anyone got the number for Paramount?
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Remake that, because the cornfield scene really needs the charge only an awesome fighter jet can provide.
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