Interesting...

Predictable news this evening with a double-take twist. David Cronenberg is said to be developing a remake of his 1986 sci-fi horror classic The Fly as a potential vehicle for him to write and direct. Risky Business reports that technological leaps are the main factor in Cronenberg’s decision to remake the material, which is a common excuse—what, no 3D catch?—but in this case, justifiable. Cronenberg’s The Fly was itself a heightened and gory creature feature remake of the campy 1958 film of the same name starring Vincent Price. Last year, he was involved in an opera production of the film for the stage with composer Howard Shore. Common sense says the opera was the decision’s spark.

However, in the past Cronenberg has been rather vocal as a detractor to any proposed remake by 20th Century Fox, where the project remains parked and started buzzing on-and-off a few years ago. There’s yet no word on when the remake would begin filming. Cronenberg remains set to direct The Matarese Circle with Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise, based on his scripted adaptation of the global-conspiracy action novel by Robert Ludlum. In fact, back in April he was quoted as saying the following…

I think when you get too comfortable, you need to scare yourself by trying something you’ve never done before. It comes from the same place as wanting to direct an opera, or write a novel, or curate an Andy Warhol art exhibit.

The budget for Circle would certainly be Cronenberg’s largest and undoubtedly make for his biggest mainstream effort; and based on early word his Fly remake would be similarly epic in scope. The guy has been in the Canadian trenches creating perverse classics like Dead Ringers, Scanners, and Videodrome for years, so I don’t have a problem with this creative path. Also of note: the latter two films mentioned in the previous sentence are both up for remakes, with Universal having announced a Videodrome reboot (ack!) in April as well.

Synopsis of Cronenberg’s The Fly: “Seth Brundle (Jeff Goldblum) is a research scientist, employed by Bartok Sciences, who has invented ‘Telepods’ two matter transmission pods that teleports any object through space from one ‘Telepod’ to the other ‘Telepod.’ But, it is until Seth meets journalist Veronica Quaife (Geena Davis) who inspires Seth to correct the system, that Seth achieves successful teleportation. But something goes horribly wrong, when Seth uses himself as a guinea-pig in a matter transmission experiment, as he teleports himself, unaware his genes have been fused with a house fly that was trapped in the telepod with him. Seth, now finds himself slowly transforming into a terrifying mutant creature known as ‘Brundlefly’ as he finds himself in a fierce battle as his mutated genes begins to take over.

The Fly is probably my fourth favorite Cronenberg movie, following top-to-bottom: The Brood, Videodrome, and A History of Violence. The project spawned a fun if critically and fanboy decried sequel in 1989 starring…yep, Eric Stoltz! It’s disheartening when visionary directors decide to revisit superlative material—Ridley Scott’s Alien prequel comes to mind—and The Fly is just that. This is a time when cinema needs directors like Cronenberg to speak out against the studio recycle bins, but maybe he’d rather get his hands dirty than see it remade by Brett Ratner.

http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/09/23/...id-cronenberg/

I'll see anything Cronenberg does, or re-does.

I dunno...his remake is pretty much perfect. Great film for sure.

WHY?!?!?!?!??!?!?!?!?!?!??!!!!!!!!!!!?!?!??!!??!?!?!?!?!!?!?!!??!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!??!?!?!?!!!

It's an amazing film as is.

Adam Brody for Seth and Carey Mulligan for Veronica.

Frick it. When Cronenberg remakes his own sh*t, the era of the new idea is dead.

I'm going back to cave painting.

Most important question: Where are they going to find someone as awesome as 1980's Geena Davis, both in acting chops and beauty?

I'm for it.

Right here:

so what exactly is cronenberg's next project??? he's working on like 5 things.

let's hope his thoughts of remaking 'The Fly' ... again, is just a moment of grand delusion.

I hope this is pure bullshit. This seems so... below him. I don't see it happening. This would be like Carpenter remaking The Thing. You can't re-do perfection; it just can't be made any better. The effects, the score, the casting, the pacing... you just can't top any of those things. It'd be a CGI nightmare.

I hope that after he does The Matarese Circle he works on an original project that is hopefully scripted by him.
The man has not written a screenplay since 1999's eXistenZ.

I'm for NOT remaking this classic.

Really, other than what are now some somewhat dated special effects, why remake this great film?

The performances from the leads are classic.

If it gets him away from that Ludlum adaptation that supposedly has Denzel Washington and Tom Cruise, it's good. Don't want him to succumb to anything that mainstream.

I wish him all the luck on this remake but damn it's gonna be hard to recapture that same magic that Jeff Goldblum brought to the screen.

I saw The Fly opera, and it was one of the worst experiences of my life. And I love The Fly, Howard Shore, and opera. My sister, also an opera patron, agreed.

It's hard to believe Cronenberg would even think about remaking his own film, but I know I would see it if he does. I'd like to think that if he wants to revisit it so badly, there's something new that he would like to examine. I can accept it just as long as it brings some new ideas and not just a rehash of what he's already done.

How many directors have remade their own films?

Off the top of my head ...

George Sluizer directed the original version of The Vanishing as well as the U.S. remake
Michael Haneke directed both versions of Funny Games
Alfred Hitchcock directed two versions of The Man Who Knew Too Much

I'm sure there are others, but those were the ones I could recall.

Michael Haneke did Funny Games, both of them.


like clckworang said, if Cronenberg wants to revisit the project, there could be more, and i'm all for it.

Ole Bornedal
Nattevagten (1994) - Nightwatch (1997)

Tod Browning
Outside The Law (1920) - Outside The Law (1930)
London After Midnight (1927) - Mark Of The Vampire (1935)

Frank Capra
Lady For A Day (1933) - Pocketful Of Miracles (1961)
Broadway Bill (1934) - Riding High (1950)

Fernando de Fuentes
Allá en el Rancho Grande (1936) - Allá en el Rancho Grande (1949)

William C. de Mille
The Ragamuffin (1916) - The Splendid Crime (1925)

Cecil B. DeMille
The Squaw Man (1914) - The Squaw Man (1918) - The Squaw Man (1931)
The Ten Commandments (1923) - The Ten Commandments (1956)

Julien Duvivier
Poil de carotte (1925) - Poil de carotte (1932)

John Farrow
Five Came Back (1939) - Back From Eternity (1956)

Jesus Franco
Eugenie (1970) - Eugenie (Historia de una perversión) (1980)

Rafael Gil
El Hombre que se quiso matar (1942) - El Hombre que se quiso matar (1970)

Michael Haneke
Funny Games (1998) - Funny Games (2008)

Howard Hawks
Ball Of Fire (1941) - A Song Is Born (1948)

Alfred Hitchcock
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) - The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

Kon Ichikawa
The Burmese Harp (1956) - The Burmese Harp (1985)

Dick Maas
De Lift (1983) - Down (2001)

George Marshall
Destry Rides Again (1939) - Destry (1954)

Leo McCarey
Love Affair (1939) - An Affair To Remember (1957)

Andy Milligan
The Ghastly Ones (1968) - Legacy of Blood (1978)

William A. O'Connor
The Pace That Kills (1928) - The Pace That Kills (1935)

Juan Orol
Madre querida (1935) - Madre querida (1951)

Yasujiro Ozu
I Was Born, But... (1932) - Good Morning (1959)
A Story Of Floating Weeds (1934) - Floating Weeds (1959)
Late Spring (1949) - Late Autumn (1960)

The Pang Brothers
Bangkok Dangerous (1999) - Bangkok Dangerous (2008)

Benito Perojo
El Negro que tenía el alma blanca (1927) - El Negro que tenía el alma blanca (1934)

Jean-Marie Poiré
Les Visiteurs (1993) - Just Visiting (2001)

Florián Rey
La Aldea maldita (1930) - La Aldea maldita (1942)

Takashi Shimizu
Ju-On: The Grudge (2003) - The Grudge (2004)
Ju-On: The Grudge 2 (2003) - The Grudge 2 (2006)

George Sluizer
Spoorloos (1988) - The Vanishing (1993)

Roger Vadim
...And God Created Woman (1956) - And God Created Woman (1988)

Francis Veber
Les Figitifs (1986) - Three Fugitives (1989)

Raoul Walsh
High Sierra (1941) - Colorado Territory (1949)

Jerry Warren
Teenage Zombies (1959) - Frankenstein Island (1981)

Stephen Weeks
Gawain And The Green Knight (1973) - Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (1984)

Paul Wegener
Der Golem (1915, co-directed with Henrik Galeen) - Der Golem, wie er in die Welt kam (1920, co-directed with Carl Boese)

John Woo
Once A Thief (1991) - Once A Thief (1996)

William Wyler
These Three (1936) - The Children's Hour (1961)

Wow, that's...thorough. Interesting list, so thanks.

Any local community theater? That features extremely unattractive people?



I kid, I kid. Well, kinda.

I bet he simply wants to adapt the opera version to the screen.

Seems kind of pointless, but I'll still certainly see it.