Paramount is reportedly set to back a remake of the Alfred Hitchcock neo-noir thriller of Vertigo, starring Robert Downey Jr.
Well this made our head spin. All terrible puns aside, a pretty shocking story has emerged today courtesy of Deadline, with the outlet claiming that Robert Downey Jr is circling a remake of the 1958 Alfred Hitchcock thriller, Vertigo. Apparently, Steven Knight (who has just been named as the new writer on Disneyās next Star Wars project) is signed up to pen the project. No director has yet been named.
Paramount, the home of the original Vertigo, is reportedly financing the project, with the Hitchcock estate keen for the studio that backed the original to support this remake.
Blimey.
Now that we think about it thereās a number of reasons that we never thought weād be looking into the headlights of a Vertigo remake, despite Hollywoodās never-ending penchant for revisiting, recycling, rebooting and remaking.
Firstly, the film held Sight and Sound magazineās prestigious decade-long title as The Greatest Film Ever Made (until recently at least). Remaking what many consider to be the greatest film of all time is a bold but clearly futile gesture as youāre surely always going to be compared unfavourably to the original. Itās probably the same reason we havenāt seen a Citizen Kane remake. Yet.
Which brings us neatly on to point two: Gus Van Santās 1998 Psycho remake. If youāre going to remake Hitchcock, youāre faced with an impossible choice: deviate from the legendary directorās style and create something inferior or copy the film frame by frame (as Van Sant memorably did) and have everybody question why your film even exists.
Finally, point three: Vertigo's subject matter could be seen as problematic, at least by todayās standards. Thatās not an issue for Hitchcockās film as the movie is of course, a product of its time and naturally, its outdated representations of relationships and gender are central to the filmās identity. A recent video game adaptation of Vertigo tried to reinvent the filmās story for a more modern audience and by all accounts, it did not go down well.
Still, despite some very clear misgivings about this, far be it from us to shout down a project we know precious little about. Weāre just raising some of the same conversation points that Downey and Knight have almost certainly discussed themselves. Perhaps the creators are planning a radical spin from Hitchcockās 1958 classic, maybe itās a different story altogether. We donāt yet know enough to judge but the announcement itself certainly raises the eyebrows although the announced talent is clearly promising enough.
The original romantic thriller saw James Stewart play a retired police detective fall into a spiral of obsession after being hired to tail a mysterious and beautiful woman. The film is considered a masterclass in suspense and continuing in that spirit, weāll be in a state of suspense regarding this project until we hear more. When we do, weāll certainly let you know but given Knightās Star Wars commitments, it could be some way off.
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