|
12:00 AM, 26-MAY-05
Bay Backs Away From The Birds
Producer/director Michael Bay appeared to back away from reports that he was mulling a remake of Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller film The Birds in comments to SCI FI Wire and other reporters on May 25. "I don't want to talk about The Birds, because that's so far down the line, and I have misgivings about even trying to even do that, you know what I'm saying?" Bay said at a news conference to promote his upcoming SF action film The Island.
Scarlett Johansson, Bay's Island star, was sitting next to him when she learned of the potential remake and reacted with shock. "You're remaking The Birds?" she asked with incredulity. "The one with Tippi Hedren?"
Bay responded: "You can't believe everything you read. It doesn't mean it's going to happen."
Last month, The Hollywood Reporter ran a story saying that Bay's Platinum Dunes production label was in talks to remake the 1963 thriller with producer Peter Guber, though his Mandalay Pictures banner. The new version would reportedly be based on the short story by Daphne du Maurier, to which Universal owns the rights and which inspired Hitchcock's original movie, the trade paper reported. (Universal is owned by NBC Universal, which also owns SCIFI.COM.)
At the news conference, Bay tried to change the subject to his upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre prequel, called The Origin, and a remake of The Hitcher when Johansson again registered her protest against remaking The Birds.
"You can't remake a Hitchcock movie!" Johansson said.
Bay again responded: "I know, it doesn't feel right. That's why you can't believe everything you read."
When Johansson seemed to realize that the interchange was being monitored by a roomful of reporters, she teased: "Yeah, look, now I'm going to be starring in it, and it's going to be some $180 million blockbuster."
"Yeah, it's a slippery slope when you do remakes," Bay said. "The movie I think that should never be remade is The Shining. I love Kubrick, and the scariest shot in any movie is that scene of the twins down at the end of the hallway." The Island opens July 22.
|