Last week brought with it a lot of news about musical remakes. On the side of pre-production, we got word that Steven Spielberg is mulling a remake of WEST SIDE STORY (make your own jokes about how he won’t show The Sharks for the first 45 minutes).

That same evening on the post-production front, we finally got a glimpse at this film, the completed remake of the beloved 1982 film.

Both pieces of information were greeted with the usual rounds of “Why are they remaking it” scepticism. Which in this case leaves me especially perplexed. If ever there was a medium that lent itself to being re-imagined, it’s The American Musical. Shows arrive on Broadway and often become indelibly linked with certain performers, certain composers, and certain choreographers. They can sometimes run for years, but all inevitably close. Once they do, a generation or so will go by, and some industrious producer dusts it off to revive it with a new cast, new staging, and often new life.

And yet, if we suggest that Hollywood follow suit and create a revival of their own, audiences balk. Why?

Looking at this clip, I find myself a little bit leery of Cameron Diaz, but given everybody else involved, I’m willing to give it a go. Whaddaya we think gang? Anyone else think the sun’ll come out tomorrow?

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4 Replies to “A Hard Knock Life: ANNIE Trailer”

  1. The Cameron Diaz stuff isn’t good but I think it might be decent. Especially for any scenes with Jamie Foxx, Rose Byrne, and Quvenzhane Wallis.

  2. Ryan, to address your question from the other thread, when I talked about the 1982 version of Annie being dated, it had to do with characters like Punjab and the kung fu instructor. Both guys really hit on racial stereotypes. I expect that won’t be the case with the new film.

    I think the new remake has potential and a decent cast, plus having the director Easy A involved could help. I agree that Diaz seems to be a possible issue, though I think Carol Burnett really overplayed it in the 1982 version. So it might just be that character. I’m interested to hear what people think about it, though I probably won’t run out to see it.

    1. (Apologies for the late response)

      As you mention the way that Burnett “overplayed” Ms Hannigan, a thought occurred to me -The Fuckin’ Counselor! Diaz vamped it up in that movie and bloody-well nailed it! So maybe you’re on to something. Maybe, the fact that the whole thing is “set now” will avoid some of the datedness of the original.

      Here’s hoping!

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