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Post by kelly on Feb 11, 2010 20:48:32 GMT -6
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Post by Midge on Feb 11, 2010 22:50:32 GMT -6
No, NO, no, NO!  p.s. The link doesn't work. I tried to fix it and couldn't.
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Post by kelly on Feb 12, 2010 18:45:36 GMT -6
That intersing let see if I could find better link
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Post by Hedvig on Feb 12, 2010 19:25:24 GMT -6
My instinctive reaction is in general the same as Midge's. Artistically I don't think it makes sense to remake something that is really good to begin with. But I'm also a bit curious about why they have chosen to remake this particular film. What is it about Mildred Pierce that will speak to today's audiences? Hm. I could probably write a thesis about that.
Interesting also about the remake of My Fair Lady. I didn't fall for the original film, unlike almost everyone else - so I'm assuming it deserves its classic status, and its magic just happens to elude me. However, I do think it has one flaw even if it's otherwise a good film: that the actors can't sing, and are dubbed. So I would have thought the new film would have corrected that, but they did the same old thing, choosing star-quality over singing-quality. Kiera Knightley is supposed to play the new Eliza. Apparently Anika Noni Rose, who did the voice work for Tiana in The Princess and the Frog and one of the principal parts in Dream Girls, has always wanted to play that part. That would have been interesting perhaps...
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Post by Midge on Feb 13, 2010 5:03:55 GMT -6
Now that you mention it, Hedvig, I imagine that the theme of a an ambitious woman from the working class who achieves success but fails at motherhood is pretty timeless. It's just that, as you say, the original Mildred Pierce was such a good movie, so why remake it? Any actress who tries to play Mildred is going to be compared unfavorably to Joan Crawford, who put her own indelible stamp on that character.
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Post by diane on Feb 14, 2010 0:54:30 GMT -6
Re "My Fair Lady" - I am with Hedvig - not a real lover of that particular musical either.
I can remember reading in Audrey Hepburns biography that she had really wanted to
use her own voice in the songs (apparently she had a reasonable singing voice) but
they (the powers that be) had wanted all the voices dubbed. Hepburn was quite upset,
considering that one of main quibbles about the film was that they had passed over
the original Broadway star (Julie Andrews) as not having a big enough name to lure
the public in!!!
"Mildred Pierce " is on of my favourite films. I think film-makers today would have a
lot of trouble with Veda, Mildred's daughter. In the original, there was nothing nice or
redeeming about her but in a remake I am sure the director will be scrambling around
trying to find something in her childhood that made her the way she was - they will
try to play for sympathy. And I am sure the actress chosen for the role, will be
interviewed claiming "I have purposely never watched the original - I want to put my
own interpretation on the role and make her a likeable character".
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Post by Midge on Feb 14, 2010 4:16:23 GMT -6
And I am sure the actress chosen for the role, will be interviewed claiming "I have purposely never watched the original - I want to put my own interpretation on the role and make her a likeable character". They always say that, don't they?  |
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Post by Hedvig on Feb 14, 2010 19:44:33 GMT -6
Now that you mention it, Hedvig, I imagine that the theme of a an ambitious woman from the working class who achieves success but fails at motherhood is pretty timeless. It's just that, as you say, the original Mildred Pierce was such a good movie, so why remake it? Any actress who tries to play Mildred is going to be compared unfavorably to Joan Crawford, who put her own indelible stamp on that character. You could be right, Midge. Depressing that that is still an issue, but it is. That might well be the reason why they're remaking it. I know a lot of remakes are just capitalizing on past successes, but for some reason this one just doesn't seem to be the obvious past success to capitalize on. It's so 40's, so noirish, and Joan Crawford is Mildred Pierce. Diane, glad I'm not the only one to feel that way. I do think it might have made an important difference if the actors had sung their own songs, bringing more personality and emotion into it. But then they should have chosen real singers to begin with? I don't know. About Vera, that sounds like a plausible development. I've noticed a trend towards sentimentalizing characters in remakes. |
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