Just saw the first ad for the new The Wicker Man. Anyone excited by it? Somehow I don't think Nicholas Cage is going to do better then Edward Woodward.
And I don't think there's going to be a pretty young starlet reprising Britt Eckland's nude dance. I'll take the original, please.
I'm not excited by it, and as good as Nic Cage can be, I don't think he'll top Woodward's performance, which, for my money, is one of the best performances I've ever seen in a horror film. But, as I have never seen the original, at least in its entirity, this is one of the few remakes I do plan on seeing.
Yes, and they have Ellen Burstyn playing the Christopher Lee part. I don't know for sure what they're substituting for the whole virginity thing.
It's supposed to be a matriarchial commune rather than an isolated modern pagan village, if I read correctly. So I'm guessing it'll take a male vs. female perspective of the events of the story as opposed to the strict Christianity vs. fervent paganism of the original.
Or maybe if they keep the religious conflict of the original it could be American-style fundamentalism vs New Age/Wicca/Gaia worship. If they try either one of these perspectives, I have some hope for the film, as long as they don't cheat and make one side out to be phonies or hypocrites. That was one of the strengths of the original, both Sgt. Howie and the islanders were completely sincere in their beliefs. Each saw what was happening only from their own perspective and were convinced of the truth of what they saw was playing out. And in the end by the tenents of those beliefs each got something they saw a worthwhile. The Islanders got their sacrifical fool, and Howie could be considered a martyr, since he died for keeping to his faith no matter the temptation.
I like your take on the original there Yaddo, I remember how hard Sgt Howie fights the temptation.
I have to say the big surprise is Christopher Lee as Lord Summerisle. It's totally opposite from the intense parts he usually plays. It also proves that he is indeed a very good actor.
He even overcomes that wig to give a great performance. Lee himself apparently considers The Wicker Man his best work.
I've read in depth analyses of the theological conflict of the original other places, so I can't claim that my take is completely my own. But even from the first time I saw the film I respected that however bizarre, cruel, or inhumane the islanders' beliefs and practices appeared to Howie or to we viewers they were always genuine in their conviction that what they were doing was right through the film. It was right and even necessary, far as they were concerned, to trick Howie and do what they do to him since to them it is alien and foolish to NOT be sexually active.
There's a saying that in a good play, everybody is right. I take that to mean that good writing doesn't cop out by undermining one side or the other, or but that the points of the conflicting sides will stand on their own merit rather than making one side mustache-twirling villains just to generate conflict. The Wicker Man has that honest clash of deeply held beliefs without the "cheating that I mentioned earlier. That's why I think if the new version is to have any chance at being a good film, it has to have an honest conflict of views and not just yet another lone hero in a creepy remote setting with mysterious and untrustworthy locals.
Yes, Woodward did a great performance in the original. As for the new version, I have not read too much in what twist they are giving it in comparison to the original. I respect Cage as an actor though and I can't see him doing it an injustce.
Either way, it is on my list to see and quite curious. I am sure we will be revisting this when it comes out :)
I'm going to check this out too. I never heard of the Wicker Man unitl I came to this board and alot of you guys were talking about it. I rented about a 2 months ago and was blown away. Like Yaddo pointed out both sides believed in their religions and ti was portrayed as such.
I know the remakes themes have definitely changed as Hollywood won't take their chances with themes such as religous conflicts. I just hope its something mature that can stand up to the original themes.
Hasn't hollywood done the religious conflict theme many times? And if they can take their chances 9/11 themes and such. I don't feel there is much hollywood wont touch so long as it makes money.
loyal1 Wrote:
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> Hasn't hollywood done the religious conflict theme
> many times? And if they can take their chances
> 9/11 themes and such. I don't feel there is much
> hollywood wont touch so long as it makes money.
True but I don't think for a movie like this their would be equally present side like the original Wicker Man. I think that whole theme would have been dropped from the remake.
With that the remake hasn't come out yet so maybe its still in place.
I"m still getting backers for my musical claymation remake of "Citizen Kane" -- we're putting in a few sex scenes as well, but promise to stay close to the spirit of the original . . .
peter johnson/denny crane
The original was awesome. The new movie will suck. That's all I have to say.
I cannot support the new Wicker Man as the Edward Woodward was so amazing. I have to list this as an unnecessary remake.
Soon there will be a new Gone With the Wind. Starring Lawrence Fishburne and J. Lo.
-Ed
Ed Wrote:
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> Starring Lawrence Fishburne and J. Lo.
>
You know, that might be worth seeing. Especially if Laurence Fishburn opens up on Lopez a la John Hull in DEEP COVER.
ulthar Wrote:
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> Ed Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Starring Lawrence Fishburne and J. Lo.
> >
>
> You know, that might be worth seeing. Especially
> if Laurence Fishburn opens up on Lopez a la John
> Hull in DEEP COVER.
Hilarious. Absolutely hilarious....
Quiet Ed, or Hollywood might hear you. JLo won't merely star in the remake, but it'll be a musical no less.
Yes, a comedy musical! We must have Owen Wilson too!
The Fall preview issue of Entertainment Weekly has a small section on the new Wicker Man. The director Neil Labute says "I think the original protagonist was very hard to like." Well, yes Mr. Director, that was part of the point of the character, he was as rigid in his beliefs as the islanders and hidebound to his duties as a cop. He was supposed to be uptight and cold. That made the practices of Lord Summerisle and his followers even more alien and decandent to him than would have been to the average viewer. Shesh, now I'm a little less encouraged. And Labute is supposed to be a fairly intelligent and insightful guy capable of handing dark material.
Yes, well Hollywood does like pure black and white, now don't they? Shades of grey in character development, when it exists at all, might only serve to ask the audience to THINK. Can't have that.
I'm wondering how they are going to ruin the ending. If they let him get out of it some how that will kill the movie.
Well, even though I am not happy about them remaking this...I so love the original. I will probably go see it.
I just was so horrified about seeing Nicolas Cage in it, I wanted to scream. I think I did yell No! in the theater during the preview. Of course, I'm just as horrified that he's making Ghost Rider. People give Keanu Reeves crap for being emotionless and bland, well, Mr. Cage isn't that much better. Oi.
I don't know. I am sure Hollywood is going to go balls-up on this one. Especially since religion is such a huge focal point. And I agree with a previous statement - can't have the audience THINKING, heavens NO!
I quite like Cage as an actor -- I thought he's shown great nuance in lots of his roles & I really loved him in Raising Arizona and Mermaids, to name 2 roles --
No, I think the film will SUCK big-time for the same reason The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen failed so horribly:
No respect for nor understanding of the Source Material.
Hammer had lots of people on board who had read the Dennis Wheatley novels when the film was being made --
How many people do we think that were involved with this remake have even read a single work of Classic British Horror? Even one? I strongly doubt it.
I'm usually an optomist, but I think this thing will stink up the theatre and die an ignoble death.
peter johnson/denny crane
Dennis Wheatley? "The Wicker Man" novel and screenplay were written by Anthony Shaffer. Dennis Wheatley was the author of "The Devil Rides Out" and "To the Devil a Daughter" source material for the films of the same names.
peter johnson Wrote:
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> I think this
> thing will stink up the theatre and die an ignoble
> death.
And in the process, introduce a large fraction of young movie-goers to the concept of THE WICKER MAN, thus insuring that the remake is the ONLY chance they will ever give the story. Many will not even know it is a remake, nor the power of the original. They'll hear "Wicker Man" and say "oh I saw that, it sucked."
ulthar Wrote:
> And in the process, introduce a large fraction of
> young movie-goers to the concept of THE WICKER
> MAN, thus insuring that the remake is the ONLY
> chance they will ever give the story. Many will
> not even know it is a remake, nor the power of the
> original. They'll hear "Wicker Man" and say "oh I
> saw that, it sucked."
I wonder if that isn't Hollywood's intent. Remake decent movies with plots (Wicker Man, Rollerball) with craptacular pieces of s**te that remove any vestige of thinking. Once the past has been shredded and discredited, they can peddle their movies with out worrying about any criticism.
No, I'm not paranoid. The black helicopters really are out to get me. Why do you ask?
Still, the main question hasn't been answered yet. DOES IT HAVE A NUDE DANCE?
The funny thing about this thread is that the original Wicker Man WAS a musical (of a sort), and I kinda doubt the remake will be.
Vermin makes a very excellent point, as he always does --
Yaddo 42 misses my point completely, by being too literalistic --
Yaddo first: Yes, Yaddo, you are 100% correct. That man wrote that book and the other man wrote other books. And? My point was not a quiz, but rather to denote that nobody reads anything in Hollywood. Yes, you have named the authors with their novels very accurately. I stand corrected. That wasn't what my tirade was about. I could have said Arthur Macken or even Conan Doyle or whoever. I was trying -- badly -- to say that literacy is cumulative, that by having read a lot of people in a grand tradition, one is more able to understand it. If you haven't really read anything in that genre, then you have only the genres you are familiar with -- rap music/music videos/slasher films/Disney films/Film-films -- to try and create your films with. That's what happened with Extraordinary Gentlemen and why it went wrong.
This is why I put "Source Material" in caps, and not lower-case --
As Vermin notes, the ritualistic music of the unrecalcitrant Pagans is a driving point of the film, from the given nude dance number to the elaborate Full-Regalia Morris Horse at the very end. If they can do "Batboy: The Musical!", then the world is ripe and ready for "Wicker Man, The Extravaganza!!"
peter crane/denny oh what the hell . . .
Maybe it'll be a rave then, since it seems like any contemporary American film with people dancing that isn't strictly a musical (Chicago, Rent, Moulin Rouge, whatever), espeically any genre film, has to have a rave scene no matter how pointless or unlikely.
Yes! Yaddo is right!
This could be the next big Dance Movie -- sort of like how the Drew Carrey show tried to create a rivalry between the Midnight showings of Rocky Horror vs. Priscilla: Queen of The Desert.
They'll be dancin' in the streeets!
Yes -- Dance, Animalia! Dance!!
(Ever see The Lost Skeleton of Cadavara?)
Ah, modern life . . .
peter johnson/denny crane