8 Times A Director Remade Their Own Movie

Summary

• Some directors return to their own movies decades later, remaking them with fresh eyes.
• Directors often excel at remaking their own films, correcting past mistakes and improving.
• Plenty of directors remade their old silent films in the sound era, such as William Wyler and Yasujirō Ozu.

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Remakes are common in Hollywood, but it isn’t often that a director has a second attempt at one of their own movies. It’s more ordinary that an old movie gets a modern remake for a new era, with an entirely new cast and a new director. In recent years, movies which could have gotten remakes have instead gotten “legacy sequels,” which continue the story rather than telling it once more, but remakes are still big business. For example, Disney’s live-action remakes of their beloved animated classics have grossed billions of dollars at the box office.

The best movie remakes manage to bring something new to a story without retreading old ground or missing the point entirely. This explains why directors are often so good at remaking their own movies. Having considered the strengths and weaknesses of their own work, nobody else is better placed to correct certain things the second time around. Legendary directors like Alfred Hitchcock, William Wyler and Yasujirō Ozu have all improved upon their own movies decades later, and the side-by-side comparisons of their movies reveal a lot about their artistic priorities.

Related
10 Most Unnecessary Remakes Of Classic Movies

While some movie remakes have been successful, others miss the target or add nothing new. And some films should never have received a remake at all.

8 Alfred Hitchcock

The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) & The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)

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The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
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Director Alfred Hitchcock Release Date May 16, 1956 Cast James Stewart , Doris Day , Brenda de Banzie , Bernard Miles , Ralph Truman

Alfred Hitchcock began his career in Britain, but he soon moved on to directing movies in the United States, which typically allowed him access to bigger budgets and more famous stars. Although he only remade one of his movies, Hitchcock had several trademarks which ran throughout many of his films. Many of his American movies featured some of the same quirks as his British ones, including cases of mistaken identity, famous landmarks, and blonde women accompanying the protagonist. The Man Who Knew Too Much could be the quintessential Hitchcock film in this way.

Hitchcock remade The Man Who Knew Too Much because he grew dissatisfied with his first attempt.

Hitchcock remade The Man Who Knew Too Much because he grew dissatisfied with his first attempt. Both films tell the story of an ordinary family on vacation who get caught up in a sinister plot, but there are some significant differences in the plot and Hitchcock’s direction. The original stars Peter Lorre and Edna Best, while the remake stars Doris Day alongside one of Hitchcock’s greatest collaborators, James Stewart. The original was an early success for the director, but it didn’t achieve the same enduring popularity as the remake, which is frequently cited as one of Alfred Hitchcock’s best films.

7 Hans Petter Moland

In Order of Disappearance (2014) & Cold Pursuit (2019)

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Cold Pursuit
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Director Hans Petter Moland Release Date February 7, 2019 Cast William Forsythe , Liam Neeson , Aleks Paunovic , Tom Bateman , Laura Dern , Emmy Rossum , Domenick Lombardozzi , Raoul Max Trujillo , Julia Jones

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Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland has worked with Stellan Skarsgård on four movies, with In Order of Disappearance being their finest work. The action thriller stars Skarsgård as a snowplow driver who becomes embroiled in a gang war when he seeks revenge for his murdered son. As a rather straightforward revenge thriller, In Order of Disappearance has a lot in common with films like John Wick and Taken. This could be why Taken actor Liam Neeson stars in Cold Pursuit, the English-language remake which was released five years later.

Cold Pursuit achieved modest success, but it lacks the same visceral gut-punch of In Order of Disappearance.

Cold Pursuit achieved modest success, but it lacks the same visceral gut-punch of In Order of Disappearance. By adopting a more American style, Cold Pursuit also loses some of the Scandinavian touches which make In Order of Disappearance so subtly stylish. The original film is gray, quiet and austere, while the remake makes a few more generic choices with its action and score. Both movies are good fun for fans of the action genre, but Cold Pursuit has something special which gets watered down in the remake. Moland and Neeson are set to reunite for the upcoming crime drama, Thug.

6 William Wyler

These Three (1936) & The Children’s Hour (1961)

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Lillian Hellman’s taboo-busting play was adapted twice by William Wyler. In 1936, the Hays Code was in full effect in Hollywood, and this censored how films could portray certain subjects. Wyler had to work around the play’s lesbian relationship, and he did so by concocting a salacious love triangle instead. This creates a tantalizing sense of melodrama, but it also eliminates most of what made the play so interesting at the time. The Code had loosened by 1961, which allowed Wyler another attempt at an adaptation, this time without adapting the plot too much.

The Hays Code had loosened by 1961, which allowed Wyler another attempt at an adaptation, this time without adapting the plot too much.

The remake, The Children’s Hour, keeps the play’s original title, which indicates how it is a more faithful adaptation. Wyler was also able to add some more star power, with frequent collaborator Audrey Hepburn and Shirley MacLaine starring as the two school teachers accused by a student of having a romantic affair together. Although The Children’s Hour is still a little dated at times with its approach to lesbian relationships and queer life in general, it’s a more mature and more thoughtful film than These Three, and it also makes better use of the medium. These Three often resembles a filmed stage play.

5 Michael Mann

L.A. Takedown (1989) & Heat (1995)

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Heat
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Director Michael Mann Release Date December 15, 1995 Cast Al Pacino , Robert De Niro , Val Kilmer , Jon Voight , Tom Sizemore , Diane Venora

Heat is one of the greatest heist movies of all time, but Michael Mann first developed the idea as L.A. Takedown, a TV movie with a much smaller budget. Both movies are based on the real-life case of bank robber Neal McCaulay. He is portrayed by Robert De Niro in Heat, while the detective who chased him in the 1960s is altered a lot and renamed Vincent Hanna. Al Pacino delivers one of his most captivating performances as Hanna, and his dynamic with De Niro gives Heat most of its thrust. There are explosive action scenes, but the relationship between the two men is vital.

Heat is one of the greatest heist movies of all time, but Michael Mann first developed the idea as L.A. Takedown, a TV movie with a much smaller budget.

L.A. Takedown is quaint in comparison to Heat. Of course, it lacks the pedigree of De Niro and Pacino on top form, but its smaller budget and shorter runtime also mean that its action scenes are less impressive and its visual style is less ambitious. Mann uses a lot of sweeping aerial shots in Heat to portray Los Angeles as a sprawling, glittering mess. The difference between the chaos at ground level and the dreamlike beauty from a distance is true of both the city and its inhabitants in Heat. After almost 30 years, a sequel to Heat is in the works, with Mann returning to direct.

4 Yasujirō Ozu

A Story of Floating Weeds (1934) & Floating Weeds (1959)

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Floating Weeds is not the only remake that Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu attempted. He also remade 1932’s I Was Born, But… in 1959 as Good Morning. Floating Weeds is a color remake of his black-and-white film A Story of Floating Weeds. It’s a quiet family drama with moments of levity and humor weaved into its narrative. Ozu’s work is famous for its atmospheric qualities and its slow, absorbing stillness. Floating Weeds is incredibly naturalistic, but it is nonetheless utterly captivating and self-assured.

A Story of Floating Weeds is similar, but it doesn’t get into as much depth as the remake. It’s a silent film, so it’s an entirely different prospect.

Both Floating Weeds and the original tell stories about the complex tangle of a man, his mistress, and his secret son. While other directors might lean into melodrama or escalate the stakes until a fist fight erupts, Ozu is much more balanced and contemplative. He infuses remarkable amounts of emotion into ordinary moments, thanks in part to his precise shot composition. A Story of Floating Weeds is similar, but it doesn’t get into as much depth as the remake. It’s a silent film, so it’s an entirely different prospect.

3 Ken Scott

Starbuck (2011) & Delivery Man (2013)

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Comedy doesn’t always translate well into other languages, meaning that plenty of great foreign-language comedy movies get English-language remakes for American audiences. Starbuck is a Canadian movie about a man who discovers that he is the biological father to hundreds of children, having donated sperm years earlier. The French-language comedy was remade just two years later with Vince Vaughn taking on the lead role, and director Ken Scott returned to remake his own movie. The rest of the cast includes Cobie Smulders and Chris Pratt.

Comedy doesn’t always translate well into other languages, meaning that plenty of great foreign-language comedy movies get English-language remakes for American audiences.

Delivery Man is extremely similar to Starbuck. The plot is almost identical, with a delivery man coming under pressure to reveal that he is the father of hundreds of people. Rather than admitting it and dealing with the consequences, he tries to track down as many of his offspring as he can and perform random acts of kindness for them without revealing his identity. Delivery Man doesn’t just copy the story, however. It also lifts some of the same exact jokes from Starbuck. Although it’s an enjoyable comedy, Starbuck has the better protagonist.

2 Cecil B. Demille

The Ten Commandments (1923) & The Ten Commandments (1956)

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The Ten Commandments
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Director Cecil B. DeMille Release Date October 5, 1956 Cast Charlton Heston , Yul Brynner , Anne Baxter , Edward G. Robinson , Yvonne De Carlo , Debra Paget

Cecil B. Demille was one of the most successful directors of the silent era, but unlike many of his peers, he managed to navigate the transition to sound films. For his final film before his death, Demille remade one of the movies which made his career in the silent era, over 30 years earlier. The Ten Commandments isn’t Demille’s only movie that takes inspiration from the Bible, as his other hits include Samson and Delilah and The Sign of the Cross, but it is the most famous, and it remains the defining achievement of an illustrious career.

Demille’s first attempt to tell the story of The Ten Commandments was a huge financial success. The remake was even bigger.

Demille’s first attempt to tell the story of The Ten Commandments was a huge financial success. The remake was even bigger. At the time, it was the most expensive film ever made, and it typifies the Golden Age of Hollywood’s love of extravagant epics, much like Ben-Hur and Lawrence of Arabia. The remake focuses more on the story of Moses than the original, which travels forward in time for its second half, as two brothers debate the meaning of the commandments and how they apply in a modern world thousands of years later.

1 Wes Anderson

Bottle Rocket (1994) & Bottle Rocket (1996)

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Bottle Rocket (1996)
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Director Wes Anderson Release Date February 21, 1996 Cast Luke Wilson , Owen Wilson , Robert Musgrave , Lumi Cavazos , James Caan

Wes Anderson’s feature-length debut Bottle Rocket started life as a black-and-white short film. When this short film started receiving attention, Anderson was given the opportunity to develop the story into a 90-minute movie with a $5 million budget. Although, it failed to make this money back at the box office, Bottle Rocket received some positive reviews, and it helped launch the careers of Anderson and its stars, Luke and Owen Wilson. The film has since been reappraised, and retrospective evaluations have been far kinder.

Bottle Rocket usually doesn’t top the list of Wes Anderson’s best movies, but it’s surprising how much of his idiosyncratic style is established so early on.

Bottle Rocket usually doesn’t top the list of Wes Anderson’s best movies, but it’s surprising how much of his idiosyncratic style is established so early on. There is quirky humor, strange dynamics between adults and children, and bright colors. Anderson’s subsequent works have heightened each of these factors, and Bottle Rocket shows him just beginning to grasp his filmmaking identity. The black-and-white original is still enjoyable for fans of Wes Anderson, and he recently showed that his love for short films has not diminished with his series of Roald Dahl adaptations for Netflix.

Source: https://dinhtienhoang.edu.vn
Category: Entertainment