Economic hard times seems to be making Hollywood a bit more cautious about what kinds of movie deals they spend their money on and it looks like remakes of older, successful movies is one of ‘safer bets’ that Hollywood is banking their money on right now.
Over at Warner Brothers Studios, John Brownlow has been hired to write the remake of the 1935 swashbuckler, Captain Blood. This is the swashbuckling adventure film in which action star Errol Flynn shot to stardom playing Peter Blood, who went from plantation slave to heroic swashbuckler. The movie also starred Oliva DeHaviland and Basil Rathbone. Philip Noyce is developing the remake and may direct it as well.
Warner Brothers, along with MBST Entertainment is also making plans to remake 1981 hit, Arthur, which written and directed by Steven Gordon and starred Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli. Arthur (Moore), a happy drunk with no pretensions at having any ambition is the heir to a vast fortune which he can only get if he marries a practical woman named Susan. Along the way to trying to adhere to his family’s wishes, he falls in love with a woman with no money but a loving heart (Minnelli).
At 20TH Century FOX, the studio money is on the remake of the 1984 feature, Romancing the Stone, directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. In Romancing the Stone, romance novelist Joan Wilder (Turner) braves the Columbian jungles to rescue her kidnapped sister and finds her only ally is a reckless soldier of fortune named Jack Colton (Douglas).
No casting has been announced for any of these remakes. Of course they are probably thinking along the lines of Christian Bale or Robert Downey Jr. for Captain Blood, but if I could make the call, I would like to see Warner Brothers tap into the talent pool they have available and place the very dynamic and definitely action hero material Jensen Ackles in the role of Peter Blood and cast the gorgeous Traci Dinwiddie in the DeHaviland role of Arabella Bishop. My second choice would be Keanu Reeves and Anne Hathaway.
For Arthur, I would love to see Michael J. Fox be able to return to the big screen in this role and working opposite the delightful Sandra Bullock.
For Romancing the Stone, even though this is a 20TH Century FOX project, I would like to see them pull from the talent pool currently available at the CW Network and cast Jared Padalecki as Jack Colton and Erica Durance as Joan Wilder. My second choice would be Robert Downey Jr. and Kate Hudson.
So Eclipse Readers, there you have my casting choices for these remakes, why not let us know who you would cast in the starring roles and why.