Dunham and Konner May Pen "Toni Erdmann" Remake
Wednesday, June 28, 2017 at 7:00PM Robert here! Remember a few months ago when we all learned that Jack Nicholson was making a long-awaited return to the silver screen to star with Kristen Wiig in an American remake of bonkers German comedy Toni Erdmann? No, no, it was not a St. Elsewhere style coma dream. That possibly brilliant, possibly ill-advised project is still well underway, and there has been a new development: universally beloved and totally uncontroversial creator, writer, director, and star of HBO's Girls Lena Dunham and her co-writer Jenni Konner are in talks to pen the script. More after the jump...
If you recall this remake came about after Nicholson saw the film and was such a huge fan that he commissioned the project for himself the star in. Then Kristen Wiig got wrangled into it somehow. It is still in the very early stages of development, but the fact that it hasn't evaporated into "Wow remember when Jack Nicholson was going to star in a Toni Erdmann remake?" status yet leads me to believe we may soon be sitting in theaters watching Nicholson plop in some fake teeth and terrorize Wiig all over Romania.
Dunham and Konner's involvement is still in the early stages, but the mere mention of it has already garnered reaction from "What?" to "I wish I was dead." As I said about Nicholson and Wiig in the starring roles: if they are hell bent on remaking the movie, I actually think the Girls duo is an inspired choice for the job. Girls, as well as Dunham's debut feature film, Tiny Furniture, revels in the kind of odd, off-putting social situations that are the backbone of what makes Toni Erdmann such a special film. The characters Dunham creates (and some would say, Dunham herself), have a similar quality to the uncomfortable, boundary pushing persona at the center of the film.
I'm a firm believer that if you are going to remake a movie there needs to be a reason other than "I liked this in German so I'll do it in English." It needs to be tweaked, updated, reformed to fit the social and political climate of whatever country you're setting it in. In that regards, I think Dunham and Konner might be the women for the job.
Will all of that translate into a remake worthy of the effort? Do you hate or love the idea of Dunham's involvement?
Reader Comments (19)
I here a lot about this girl but have never seen her in anything so who knows?
Why? I'm not interested in a remake of a foreign film that I want to see and it's going to be dumber because of Dunham.
Kristen Wiig actually was the proactive one. She went to Bill Murray first https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/feb/14/bill-murray-toni-erdmann-remake-jack-nicholson-kristen-wiig
I assumed they were going to change the setting to America anyway, so having Dunham/Konner jump aboard would actually be pretty inspired in my opinion. I'm still doubtful all of these pieces will come together, but color me very intrigued and delightfully hopeful. For now.
Perfect match.
I absolutely love the idea.
I'm over the moon.
Can't wait for this.
First time I'm interested in an American remake EVER
I really love Toni Erdmann, and I hate that it's being remade. And I'm not a fan of Dunham's persona, though truthfully I have next to no interaction with her works.
You know how parents say to their disobedient children: "Well, now we're REALLY not going!"? Lol. Well, now I'm REALLY not seeing it.
No to all of it. The
For reasons stated in the piece, I think this is an inspired decision. It's also one that is made to show off people's hypocricies and I kind of love that. Can't wait to see the people who said Dunham only writes about herself to turn around and say she shouldn't be trying to do anything else.
Yeah, I still don't think remaking Toni Erdmann is a GOOD idea, but damn if every single choice so far has been pretty much perfect. If it must be done, it sure as hell seems like they're doing it right. Color me surprisingly interested, especially given this recent development.
This might actually work. MIGHT.
Except for the political aspect of the movie (that was relegated to a very secondary story), there was nothing good about this movie.
Oh please NO. I think the only American remakes of foreign language films have been Magnificent Seven and Birdcage. I can't think of any others.
So please NO NO NO.
I mean -- we do all agree that the original film is at least half in English, right?
And is it too obvious to assume the remake will be positioned in Mexico?
Yeah, what Dancin' Dan said !!
Nicholson & Wiig working off Dunham & Konner's script could actually be... hilarious. If a great comedy director gets involved too, this might go on the very short list of remakes that turned out surprisingly good.
Toni Erdmann is so boring and one hour longer than it should have been.
I don't see the point of the remake but it will probably be better than the German overrated film.
Lena Dunham writing a movie with huge political undertones and as a blast to xenophobia? Looool. Might as well get Donald Trump to write the remake of Do The Right Thing.
its Jack fucking Nicholson returning to the screen, Id watch Scary Movie 6 if he was in it
Guys, maybe the remake will be SHORTER. Using the issues with the original as reasons why a remake shouldn't happen isn't really how these things work.