Death At A Funeral: American Edition

[LivingLegendGaryColeman 0]

I remember Death at a Funeral hitting smaller theaters in America as a good British movie. It is already being remade... American style. Wait, scratch that, Urban American style. Apparently it was announced that Chris Rock was urbanizing a script and now Tracy Morgan and Martin Lawrence are on board. All this will be directed by the man who brought the Nicholas Cage Wicker Man and Lakeview Terrace. Here is the snippet I saw on IMDB:

 

 

Tracy Morgan ("30 Rock") and Martin Lawrence (Bad Boys) are joining Chris Rock in the Screen Gems remake of the 2007 British comedy "Death at a Funeral." Also joining the cast are Loretta Devine, Ron Glass, Danny Glover, Regina Hall, James Marsden, Zoe Saldana and Columbus Short. Neil Labute (The Wicker Man, Lakeview Terrace) is directing the ensemble comedy in which a funeral ceremony turns into a debacle of misplaced cadavers and family secrets. When things can't get any worse, a man arrives saying he's the dead man's gay lover and threatens blackmail. Rock co-wrote the script with Ayesha Carr and will take the film's setting from Britain into an urban American setting. Production is set to begin this Spring.

[The Buzz 0]

Loved the original, look forward to see if they can keep it fun to watch.

[Guest Vitamin X]

The original wasn't too bad, but I actually feel that this might work better as a Chris Rock thing.

 

The person who arrives and says he's the guy's gay lover? Tell me we're going to get that one midget black dude that's fucking hilarious.

[Jingus 0]

Huh. Weird, I remember the commercials for the original Death at a Funeral playing a lot on television. So it's odd to go look it up, and find that the movie was a limited release which only played on 324 screens. Why did it get buried like that? They had a wide-release marketing campaign, plus the think was directed by Frank Oz and starring Alan Tudyck so it's not like it was made by a bunch of nobodies.

 

As for the remake? Wow this sounds like a bad idea. Firstly, the cast seems like a who's who of people who specialize in mediocre comedies. And, fucking Neil Labute as director? Aside from the fact that I'm amazed anyone would let him make another movie again after Wicker Man, can you seriously see this guy making a light-hearted comedic romp? He's known for making really grim and polarizing movies about the battle of the sexes, where if there is any humor it's either really dark or unintentional. This is not dissimilar to hiring Michael Bay to direct a Jane Austen adaptation.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

Not to be all negative, but I saw the original version and hated it. Totally predictable and without any appealing characters. I really think the US should stop remaking UK stuff. You do fine coming up with great shows of your own, why the need to adapt our crap? I mean, both versions of The Office are great, and thats pretty much it.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Not to be all negative, but I saw the original version and hated it. Totally predictable and without any appealing characters. I really think the US should stop remaking UK stuff. You do fine coming up with great shows of your own, why the need to adapt our crap? I mean, both versions of The Office are great, and thats pretty much it.

 

It's a US thing where they need to assimilate all culture and history and adapt it so they can claim it as their own.

[Jingus 0]

Really more of a film/tv media thing where they're usually just terrified of taking risks on new ideas and prefer going with established properties. Why else do you think we have so damn many sequels and remakes of American movies too? That, and the theory that foreign (for these purposes, they usually count British as "foreign") films simply will not do as well at the box office as an American movie, so they'd rather remake it into their own version than take a chance by distributing the original in a similar fashion.

[Obi Chris Kenobi 0]

Yeah that's more accurate and if I'm honest, I was actually thinking about Mel Gibson and he's not even American.

[Sideburnious 0]

I haven't seen it but I've heard good things. I think Frank Oz directed the original too, which was one of the reasons I wanted to see it.

I don't think it's so much about taking risks as it is "dumbing down". There's a huge audience out there that don't think twice about movies other than as a form of entertainment (ie, they dont know actors names, directors etc). Shit, how are they still making epic movies. Or rereleasing cult horror movies from the 70s-80s/ japanese horror movies. This way they reach a casual market that would previously have no interest at all. And it appears to be a black one at that with the cast.

 

Mark my words, when Speilberg dies they'll remake Jaws. Only due to their cult status has the Godfather(s) and Scarface (I know technically a remake, but not really) stayed the test of time/don't warrant one.

[RepoMan 0]

I loved the original, this is how I feel.