Dasquian Belargic
Aug 21st, 2006, 08:09:44 AM
http://news.scotsman.com/movies.cfm?id=1921042005
Hollywood has fallen flat on its face in the recent past attempting to remake British classics in American settings.
Get Carter substituted Seattle for Newcastle and Sylvester Stallone for Michael Caine, while Alfie relocated from Swinging Sixties London to modern-day New York, with Jude Law in place of Caine.
Hardy is highly sceptical about the new Wicker Man. "I don't quite understand what they're doing. It appears that not only is the lady involved, but there are also attacks by killer bees, which sounds like a really old-style horror film."
The original Wicker Man was firmly rooted in Scotland. Hardy and Shaffer carried out extensive research on pagan rituals and were fascinated by references to a giant wicker man, in which Druids supposedly burned prisoners (though this may have been Roman propaganda).
They freely mixed folklore and music from different parts of Britain, but chose Scotland as the setting because of its history of fundamentalist religious sects and remote communities. The film combined locations all over Galloway with footage from Culzean Castle in Ayrshire and Plockton in Wester Ross, and aerial shots of Skye.
Edward Woodward played an upright Scottish police sergeant and devout Christian, who arrives on the island to investigate the sinister disappearance of a young girl. Cage is an American sheriff in the new version, which is currently shooting with Canada doubling for Maine.
In the original, Woodward's character was a virgin, making him ideal for sacrifice. That element has been ditched from the remake, because it was thought that while audiences would accept the idea of an American community that practised human sacrifice, the idea of a grown-up virgin was just too farfetched.
Instead, Cage's character has acquired a serious allergy to bees and travels with a bee-sting kit, as well as rosary beads and self-help tapes.
In an attempt to give the story a feminist slant, writer-director Neil LaBute has turned the island into a matriarchal society, headed by Burstyn.
Christopher Lee, who regards The Wicker Man as his best film, has been critical of the remake plans.
"What do I think of it being played by a woman, when it was played by a man in 1972, as part of a Scottish pagan community, and now it's played by a woman with the same name? What do I think of it? Nothing. There's nothing to say."
Couldn't find any official website, so here is the IMDB page:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450345/
I have a bad feeling about this :\ They're trying to turn a cult British classic into a big Hollywood feature, changing so much of the original material in the process. I mean, killer bees? :| What. Get some new material, Hollywood.
Hollywood has fallen flat on its face in the recent past attempting to remake British classics in American settings.
Get Carter substituted Seattle for Newcastle and Sylvester Stallone for Michael Caine, while Alfie relocated from Swinging Sixties London to modern-day New York, with Jude Law in place of Caine.
Hardy is highly sceptical about the new Wicker Man. "I don't quite understand what they're doing. It appears that not only is the lady involved, but there are also attacks by killer bees, which sounds like a really old-style horror film."
The original Wicker Man was firmly rooted in Scotland. Hardy and Shaffer carried out extensive research on pagan rituals and were fascinated by references to a giant wicker man, in which Druids supposedly burned prisoners (though this may have been Roman propaganda).
They freely mixed folklore and music from different parts of Britain, but chose Scotland as the setting because of its history of fundamentalist religious sects and remote communities. The film combined locations all over Galloway with footage from Culzean Castle in Ayrshire and Plockton in Wester Ross, and aerial shots of Skye.
Edward Woodward played an upright Scottish police sergeant and devout Christian, who arrives on the island to investigate the sinister disappearance of a young girl. Cage is an American sheriff in the new version, which is currently shooting with Canada doubling for Maine.
In the original, Woodward's character was a virgin, making him ideal for sacrifice. That element has been ditched from the remake, because it was thought that while audiences would accept the idea of an American community that practised human sacrifice, the idea of a grown-up virgin was just too farfetched.
Instead, Cage's character has acquired a serious allergy to bees and travels with a bee-sting kit, as well as rosary beads and self-help tapes.
In an attempt to give the story a feminist slant, writer-director Neil LaBute has turned the island into a matriarchal society, headed by Burstyn.
Christopher Lee, who regards The Wicker Man as his best film, has been critical of the remake plans.
"What do I think of it being played by a woman, when it was played by a man in 1972, as part of a Scottish pagan community, and now it's played by a woman with the same name? What do I think of it? Nothing. There's nothing to say."
Couldn't find any official website, so here is the IMDB page:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450345/
I have a bad feeling about this :\ They're trying to turn a cult British classic into a big Hollywood feature, changing so much of the original material in the process. I mean, killer bees? :| What. Get some new material, Hollywood.