Akira Kurosawa's HIGH AND LOW is pretty damn close to perfect, so I've never quite understood why Martin Scorsese - and now Mike Nichols - would want to remake the film as HIGH AND LOW when they could simply call it KING'S RANSOM, which is the title of the Evan Hunter (aka Ed McBain) novel on which it's based. At least this way you're not inviting potentially ruinous comparisons to an out-and-out masterpiece.
Regardless, I'm always up for a new Mike Nichols movie - and when it was announced back in 2008 that he would be working from a David Mamet screenplay, my interest increased twofold. But now that David Mamet is being rewritten by Chris Rock (per BlackVoices.com)... well, that's a tricky one.
While Rock is inarguably one of the greatest stand-up comics working today, his filmmaking record is spotty at best; honestly, I'll take 1993's CB4 over anything he's written for the screen in the last decade. But Rock's a smart guy who seems to be something of a film buff (he did remake Eric Rohmer's CHLOE IN THE AFTERNOON*), so it's entirely possible he's got a thoughtful take on the material. Still, this is a most unexpected hire.
Scott Rudin is producing HIGH AND LOW. There's no word on a production start date.
