Hollywood seems to still be on its “reboot” phase as they add yet another classic to the list to be remade. Daphne du Maruier’s 1938 novel Rebecca is reportedly on the upgrade hit list which will be re-adapted by Steven Knight who is responsible for providing the 2002 screenplays Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises. Rebecca was first brought to the silver screen by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940.
The story is about a young woman who is never named, attempt to fill the role of Maximilian de Winter’s deceased wife, Rebecca. When Maxim takes his new bride to Manderley, his country house located in Cornwall, England, the servants accept the new Mrs. de Winter as the lady of the house. One exception is the housekeeper, Mrs. Danvers who was fiercely loyal to the first Mrs. de Winter. Mrs. Danvers unleashes psychological warfare and backhanded pettiness on the second wife, drawing comparisons between her and Rebecca, indicating that she would never have the style and sophistication that Rebecca had. In the update, I somehow picture the maid saying “slut” in between coughs. The torment nearly drives Lady de Winter Mark II to suicide. And that’s just the first half of the movie. The rest of the mystery of Rebecca is unraveled as Maxim finally tells his wife what really happened to his previous one.
Hitchcock’s version opened the first Berlin Film Festival in 1951, and starred Sir Laurence Olivier as Maximilian de Winter, Judith Anderson as Mrs Danvers and Joan Fontaine as the second Mrs. de Winter. The film was nominated for eleven Academy awards, winning two, one of which was Best Picture. Du Maurier’s story has had many stage and TV adaptations and has inspired two Bollywood movies – 1964’s Kohraa and Anamika, directed by Anant Mahadevan and released in 2008.
Despite the success of Hitchcock’s version of Rebecca, it looks like fans are not anticipating the remake of this classic. With comments such as, “For the love of God! Why are they even attempting this? Haven’t they learned you can’t replicate or out do Alfred Hitchcock’s original film versions. They tried it with “Psycho”, “Rear Window” & so forth. It’s pointless,” and “Why take a movie that is a classic (definition: Judged over a period of time to be of the highest quality and outstanding of its kind), and pretend it can be improved upon? If they know they can’t improve it, why waste the time and money? Terrible idea,” its seems as though fans are readying themselves for Hollywood’s favorite gift to the people, “disappointment.” The one comment I whole-heartedly agree with is this “Trying to think of someone with as much grace, innocence and beauty as Joan Fontaine. Hmm no can’t really come up with anyone.” Which is why I won’t be surprised with Hollywood goes for the like of Megan Fox to play the role.
As Hollywood continues on this trend of recycling and rebooting, one can only hope they don’t destroy Rebecca in their Invader Zim like attempts to make it “better”. I can’t think of one remake of a classic that ever turned out well. Remember, I said classic. Not redo a horrible movie.
There really is only one thing that can be said about this. You cannot outdo Alfred Hitchcock. He is one of the masters of horror and suspense. He pioneered many of the techniques used today in horror and psychological-thriller genres. Hollywood relies to heavily on computer graphics and wires to achieve the visual and emotional content for a scene, Hitchcock used lights, cameras and, whats that? Oh, he used actors! He knew exactly what he wanted from his scenes and his actors and was able to achieve it often in one or two takes. The man was a genius when it came to movies and plots. Let’s see you do that with CGI!