Friday
Jan162015
David Fincher and Gillian Flynn Team Up for 'Strangers On a Train' Remake
Friday, January 16, 2015 at 3:07PM Margaret here, recovering from yesterday's Oscars nominations and trying to process some upcoming movie news: David Fincher and Gillian Flynn are remaking Strangers On a Train. David Fincher and Gillian Flynn are remaking Strangers On a Train.
There are so many feelings, and I am feeling ALL of them, all at once, right now. Help.
- Excitement: David Fincher and Gillian Flynn together again, and so soon!!
- Indifference: Ben Affleck is also involved, which, sure.
- Anger: A remake of Strangers On a Train? How dare they?? Hitchcock at his best is untouchable and the movie is perfect; no sane human could think it needs updating!
- Cautious Optimism: But. Buuuuut. If they're going to do to it, and you can't stop them.. The Flynn and Fincher team is such a great choice. Think of the cold, agonizing tension! Think of the pitch-black comedy! We deserve this.
- Confusion: But Strangers on a Train is perfect and I am mad?
- Curiosity: Although-- who could play Bruno, the most charming psychopath in movie history? That's going to be really tough to cast....
- Anger 2.0:....because, dangit, Robert Walker's performance is unimprovable and it's a fool who walks into that trap. Who's idea was this again?
- Begrudging interest: It's been reported that the remake will have a new context: instead of a tennis player and a psychopath who meet on a train and discuss the idea of swapping murders, this one (tentatively called "Strangers") will follow an actor (Affleck) campaigning for an Oscar who ends up on a flight with a wealthy stranger when his private plane breaks down. A fun, meta premise, no?
- Amusement: Affleck has been cast in the Farley Granger role which, if you think about it, is sort of a Nick Dunne 2.0; Ben may have found his perfect niche playing morally ambiguous murder-adjacent leading men.
- Incredulity: Wait, when exactly will any of the people involved even have time to make this? Flynn and Fincher are already working on a series together for HBO, and Affleck has the whole Batman enterprise and several directing projects in development. It might be quite a while before we can see this.
How do you feel about this news-- more excited, or disappointed? Who would you cast as Bruno, the murderous charmer?
Reader Comments (24)
Nathaniel, I meant to suggest this as an FYC because you've mentioned it before. "Well, if Tiffany says," deserves to be the line reading of the year. It just crossed my mind at work and I did guffaw.
With the thousands to millions of unfilmed stories/concepts out there, I'm disappointed to see yet another remake, especially of a well respected film (at least they could remake a turkey which had prospects if they have to do a remake). I also wasn't too hot on Gone Girl (re-watched last night with the same response) so I'm cool on this team (I like them all individually).
I've always thought it masochistic to remake a well received film.
Why? Do a different Highsmith if needs must. Strange. I'll still watch it, of course. But why????
You're right, Nathaniel- so many feelings.
To keep the age dynamics close, it has to be someone who can be that level of charismatic psycho AND, same as Walker had a decade on Granger, have a decade on Affleck. Clooney or Buscemi? It depends on the level and style of charisma they're going for, sure, but I could see either of those working.
I am pretty much dead-set against this whole idea but I did see somebody somewhere suggest Ralph Fiennes for the Bruno role and I have to say that made my toes curl, just a little bit.
And if they ditch Affleck, even better!
It would probably help not to think of this as a Hitchcock re-make but a contemporary adaptation of a Highsmith text.
I can see Ralph charming me into murdering someone!
While true we really don't need more remakes, IF they have to do this, this is a top notch crew for it.
Also intriguing who to get for the proto Scooby Doo Velma Patricia Hitchcock role? Emma Stone?
Wouldn't be awesome to Finn Wittrock play Bruno?
probably gonna be some boring ass dude like Chris Hemsworth
I remember Vanity Fair did a throwback photoshoot of Seth Rogen recreating a scene from Strangers and I always thought it would make a good remake.
I think we can safely say at least it will be better than the remake of Psycho.
The odd homoeroticism between the two leads will be gone. So it's bound to not be as good. Let's just hope it shoots for something entirely different, and succeeds on that level.
My first thought for the ying to Affleck's yang: Colin Farrell. He could bring together sexy and a little slimy to match Ben's preppy doe eyed nature. And if they're going to do this movie, I want a sexual undercurrent, dammit. I don't care about the age dynamic.
The obvious choice is to bring Matt Damon in to 1) play off Affleck, 2) give us another amazing interpretation of a Highsmith sociopath, and 3) pair him up with Fincher, which needs to happen, right?
I'm not sure Affleck's acting is up to the creepy/creeped-out-ness of Granger or Bruno.
"Stranger on a Train" is a true Hitchcock masterpiece- now will this be a period piece? Will the homosexual subtext be more explicit? And who is going to play Bruno? I recently was re-watching Matt Damon in " The Talented Mr Ripley" which is an almost perfect movie. If anybody is up to the Hitchcock challenge is Fincher.
I actually didn't recoil in fear after reading this on Twitter yesterday. I think this team can do enough to differentiate their take on the story from Hitch's (admittedly great) film. Of course, I agree that It's always baffling when studios/filmmakers choose to remake good films instead of improving on bad ones, especially in cases like this when the film is a bit obscure to the general movie-going public. How about remaking Torn Curtain or Family Plot instead?
Well, I love San FranCinema's pick. I think s/he may win the game. I wonder if the gimmick would be distracting, but I'm dying to see how it'd turn out.
I'd also suggest Matthew Goode. Think: Stoker.
I think Affleck should take a producer's credit on this one, rather than taking a role.
Didn't Reese Witherspoon option Gone Girl with an eye to taking the lead herself? Then they decided on a different take on it, and Witherspoon became one of the producers.
I think Witherspoon should do one of the leads on Strangers on a Plane, and Affleck be a producer.
If Reese did the Farley Granger role, someone like Rene Russo could play the Bruno part.
If Reese decided to play Bruno (and she could be really good at that) the younger, more innocent partner could be played by someone like Lupita Nyong'o.
@adri That female version's remake suggestion is so cool!! Although I'm not so sure about Whitherspoon playing either one.
I don't mind the news about this remake because they are looking at re-working it in an interesting way. There is no reason why the leads couldn't be male and female instead of 2 males.
Hitchcock took great liberties with Highsmith's book, to enhance the suspense.
Gillian Flynn and David Fincher are the best duo to take this on - I am cautiously optimistic.
Trying to fill Robert Walker's shoes is madness. But if someone has to ... How about Fassbender? Or maybe Daniel Bruhl?
Not liking the idea of a remake here at all (Strangers on a Train is top five Hitchcock material, easy) but since they're gonna do it anyway, how about Matthew Goode for the Robert Walker part? He did a great riff on the Hitchockian villain in Stoker, so why not stick to what you're good at?
Hitchcock's "Strangers on a Train" was promoted as 101 minutes of "matchless suspense," so I can imagine what the creators of the near 2.5 hour pulp thriller "Gone Girl" will gas out with...
I rewatched Gone Girl last night and there are so many holes and impossibilities in that script that I'm not thrilled to think of what they will do with a classic. It was almost as if no one fact checked the believability of the story,. Not much better than The Judge. Just a bigger name director and far better production values.