"The Birds" Will Fly Again

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  • "The Birds" Will Fly Again

    Last year it was reported that Platinum Dunes, Michael Bay's production company whose credits include both horror remakes "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "The Amityville Horror", were in the beginning stages of discussing a possible new take on Alfred Hitchcock's classic "The Birds". Platinum Dunes' Brad Fuller has now confirmed that the project is very much alive and in development. "We are considering remaking "The Birds-, but our remake is not based on the Hitchcock film. It is based on the Daphne Du Maurier short story. So while the concept of birds attacking will be the same, the plot is totally different from Hitchcock's film. We are currently in the process of developing the script."

  • #2
    Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

    So, in other words, they will milk the title recognition for all it's worth, without having to pay off by delivering a movie that equals Hitchcock.

    "Until the Lion writes his own story, the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter." -African Proverb

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    • #3
      Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

      You know what they should do? They should make it a shot by shot remake of the original.

      Ele...

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      • #4
        Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

        Originally posted by elephant1978
        You know what they should do? They should make it a shot by shot remake of the original.

        Ele...
        Yeah, I remember how well that went with Psycho.

        Is it too early to start taking bets on when they'll remake Casablanca?

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        • #5
          Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

          Originally posted by j over
          but our remake is not based on the Hitchcock film. It is based on the Daphne Du Maurier short story.
          That's like saying "I don't live in a building, I live in a house". And there's no such thing as cripples...they are disabled persons.


          Does anybody remember this:

          http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109275/

          Hopefully not.

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          • #6
            Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

            They better not remake Casablanca! They'd cast Ben Afflek as Rick and Jessica Alba as Ilsa! NAY...Nay I say!
            Passion Fuels Passion

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            • #7
              Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

              Originally posted by Biohazard
              That's like saying "I don't live in a building, I live in a house". And there's no such thing as cripples...they are disabled persons.


              Does anybody remember this:

              http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109275/

              Hopefully not.
              I've never seen a good movie by Alan Smithee. He really should give it up.
              http://wasitsomethingiwrote.blogspot.com/

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              • #8
                Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

                Originally posted by creativexec
                For this remake, they are currently negotiating with Naomi Watts to star.

                Then one decent sex scene and I'm there.
                http://wasitsomethingiwrote.blogspot.com/

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                • #9
                  Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

                  Though I think it's one of Hitchcock's weakest films (not nearly as bad as TOPAZ or WALTZES FROM VIENNA, though), I don't really understand the *sticking to the original source material* here - because the Evan Hunter script contains every single scene from the short story. Now, they may start with that short story and expand it in a different way, but this quote makes it seem like Fuller has never read the story and has no idea what he's talking about.

                  Of course, nobody else in Hollywood has read the story, so he's probably safe.

                  - Bill
                  Free Script Tips:
                  http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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                  • #10
                    Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

                    Remember that the writer of the source material--Daphne du Maurier--also wrote the story on which "Don't Look Now" is based. Both stories are subdued and all the creepier, though I consider Roeg's film outstanding.

                    CE, Hedren gave a lousy performance because Hitchcock was basically hitting on her whenever he could. And when he wasn't hitting on her he was throwing live birds at her. Couldn't have been much fun.
                    Last edited by Jake Schuster; 06-10-2006, 05:34 AM.

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                    • #11
                      Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

                      Originally posted by English Dave
                      I've never seen a good movie by Alan Smithee. He really should give it up.
                      His movies may suck, be at least he has credits to his name. That gives me even more belief in myself than Uwe Boll.

                      Originally posted by creativexec
                      Hitchcock's THE BIRDS is an overrated thriller (featuring a few good scenes) with a bad performance by Tippi Hedrin. It's awkwardly paced and doesn't hold up well at all, IMO.
                      It does have a strange pace, and Hedrin is certainly no Grace Kelly...but those good scenes of which you speak almost make up for it.

                      But you got to admit...Bernard Herrmann's score kicks ass!

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                      • #12
                        Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

                        Originally posted by Biohazard
                        It does have a strange pace, and Hedrin is certainly no Grace Kelly...but those good scenes of which you speak almost make up for it.
                        I don't remember too much about her performance but I don't remember her doing a bad job at all.

                        And as far as looks go, she's in Grace Kelly's league as far as I'm concerned. Both were beautiful women.

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                        • #13
                          Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

                          I was thought it had an interesting creepiness to it. I also thought the Pacific Palisades felt like Bodega Bay. So what does that tell you?

                          It may be choppy in some parts. But there's still a lot to love. I remember in film class, our feminist teacher used several pieces of this movie to drill us with male supression ideas in film. Is this a common thing?

                          Ele...

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                          • #14
                            The Birds

                            Originally posted by wcmartell
                            ...I don't really understand the *sticking to the original source material* here - because the Evan Hunter script contains every single scene from the short story....
                            Huh? Evan Hunter's screenplay does not match Du Maurier's short story. Read this interview, and feel free to compare the short story by Du Maurier, Evan Hunter's screenplay, and, maybe, Frank Baker's earlier novel.
                            [Evan] Hunter: I had done some stuff for Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and when the call from Hitch came and he asked me if I wanted to do The Birds (I had already met him prior to that), he told me immediately on the phone that we were going to throw out the story. He said, ``Forget it, we're only going to stay with the notion of birds attacking people, that and the title. And that is it, so you'd better come out here with some ideas.'' Thus freed of the burden of having to respect someone else's work, I went out with some ideas and he had some ideas, and we shot them down. In the first week of working together, we explored all the ideas and shot them down on both sides and started from scratch.
                            [Walter] Srebnick: Thank you. Mr. Hunter, what about Daphne du Maurier's novella?

                            [Evan] Hunter: Poor lady. As I said, it was thrown out. The only thing we kept from it was the finch attack down the chimney, because this happened in the novella. We used it to good effect in the film. Hitch once said to me, ``Evan, there are only two stars in this film: the birds and me!''And then he hesitated and said, ``And you of course.'' I was reminded of this when Joe was talking about Hitch saying ``We could get a star.'' That's a stroke of genius. I remember when he came up with the advertising slogan for the film and he called in all the executives at Universal. They came into his office and he said, ``This is what it's going to be: `The birds is coming.' '' One of the young Turks in the office said, ``Excuse me, Mr. Hitchcock, sir, you mean `The birds are coming,' don't you?'' What happened to the story? It was gone. I don't think Daphne du Maurier was too thrilled about that. I wouldn't have been happy. I've been on both ends of this. I've had my novels translated to the screen by other writers. I've done other people's novels for the screen or television. Whenever I'm doing it, I think of it as translating the book-just using the book and translating it to another medium, making it visual and not internal as most novels are. A lot of writers come to the task as if they must rewrite the whole book. I didn't try to do that when I was doing Marnie. With The Birds I had carte blanche to throw it away and come up with a whole new story.
                            The best adaptation of Du Maurier's "The Birds," (thusfar, in my view), was for the "Lux Radio Theater," in 1953, (which can be listened to here).
                            JEKYLL & CANADA (free .mp4 download @ Vimeo.com)

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                            • #15
                              Re: "The Birds" Will Fly Again

                              Haven't read the story in decades, but here's my memory of it:

                              Farm family notices birds flocking to their area. The birds attack them. They hear about other bird attacks. They board up windows to stop further attacks (which happen). Later, the lead character (can't remember if it's a man or woman) goes to the big farm to check on their neighbors - find them all dead with their eyes pecked out. The lead goes home and next attack - if there is one. The end.

                              Okay, I should probably dig out the story and re-read it, but that's my memory of it...

                              And all of those scenes are in the film (and script). Though it's the *mother* who goes to check on the farm next door, not Tippi or Rod, the scene plays out almost exactly as it does in the story... and this is kind of the big set piece of the story.

                              Hunter invented the Rod & Tippi characters and the sister and the love birds and the school teacher and The Tides set piece and the school set piece and the birthday party set piece - heck, it was a short story! But the short story is in the film, no matter what he said.

                              Unless my memory is worse than I thought.

                              - Bill (keeps forgetting to take ginko biloba)
                              Free Script Tips:
                              http://www.scriptsecrets.net

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