Remakes of horror movies are nothing new in Hollywood. We recently got one for Evil Dead, The Thing, and we’re a few weeks away from a modernized version of Steven Spielberg’s Poltergeist. Even in terms of ’70s horror, there have been countless sequels and spinoffs all varying on the initial premise of The Exorcist.
But this latest planned remake boggles the mind. Don’t Look Now is Nicolas Roeg’s classic art house horror staple of the ’70s. Starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie, it’s the story of a family who tragically loses their daughter in a drowning accident, then travels to Venice to try and piece their life back together, only to be warned by a clairvoyant nun that their daughter brings a message of danger from the afterlife. It’s not your typical jump-scare fest for teenagers to say the least.
The movie is also notorious for one of the steamiest sex scenes of all time. Though provocative, the scene is symbolic for how the sex is intercut with shots of the couple getting dressed afterwards. It’s a movie about denial, pain and guilt, and it creates feelings of psychological dread through elliptical editing and cinematography that makes the pleasing canals of Venice look otherworldly and disturbing.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the team responsible for bringing Don’t Look Now back to the big screen are producers Andrew Rona and Alex Heineman, who also produced Liam Neeson’s action thriller Non-Stop. They’ve also announced plans for this project without first announcing a writer or a director to helm it, which THR equates to the studio’s similar plans for a remake of Escape From New York.
One UK based critic had some fun with the 2015 casting however. Check it out below:
DON’T LOOK NOW 2016: Michelle Dockery as Laura Baxter Michael Shannon as John Baxter Toni Servillo as The Bishop Janette Tough as [spoiler]
— Neil Young (@JigsawLounge) April 28, 2015