‘Star Trek: Picard’ Showrunner Terry Matalas Tackling Remake of 1980s Sci-Fi Movie ‘Enemy Mine’ (Exclusive)
‘Star Trek: Picard’ Showrunner Terry Matalas Tackling Remake of 1980s Sci-Fi Movie ‘Enemy Mine’ (Exclusive)
The original movie starred Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr.
This film I regard as a bit of a classic and I reviewed it quite recently on my blog. Not sure how I feel about this one.
Why would he get more work? Did they not see Picard?
Have you not seen Enemy Mine?
Yeah, it's not like he could make it worse.
The last season of Picard managed to turn things around. Yeah it was fan service, but it felt like tasteful fan service (mostly).
I think if he were to get top notch creature effects artists to do practical effects work on the alien world and save the CG stuff for wide shots and space stuff, I think people would respect that.
Picard was akin to Disco for me. Lots of kernals of goodness just tossed aside for the next shiney thing.
Unoriginal people and companies are going to look for every possible franchise and brand to revive and milk as we hit peak capitalism and before they start crumbling.
Why remake movies that are already good?
Because they are out of ideas?
I almost feel like this is rhetorical, but I'll answer anyway.
It's about money. As simple, and shitty as it sounds.
We see all these remakes and sequels happening because there is a built in fan base. It's guaranteed to make some profit, or at the very least break even.
An original movie made by an unknown writer and director is a huge gamble. Shit, even with well known ones. It can still be considered high risk.
So a studio has to make these types of movies, so they can fund the one original which may be a possible flop.
And yes, I am this interesting at parties if you were wondering.
You know, I'd almost rather they just cgi the hell out of the original.
There's no way they'll do the same script, and that's the part that worked. The cast carried the right tone, and no amount of remaking is going to top that part. So just update any flawed effects and release it as a special event.
Mirab, with sails unfurled.
I just re-watched that film. It’s kinda hokey by today’s moviemaking standards. However, it’s a fantastic story and a good script. Nobody could do better than Louis Gossett jr’s (who I didn’t know just passed away this March?! Damn.) Jeriba, and Quaid’s character changing from xenophobic racist to the one who helps bring peace to the war.
They made a huge book, The Enemy Papers that was a great read, too.
Anyway, I wouldn’t expect a remake to either be a) any good, or b) follow the old movie. Like everything they remake the new director and scriptwriters put their own take on things. And unfortunately when you insist on a new vision for something it means you’re deliberately diverging from what the essence of the original was all about. So no, I wouldn’t expect the remake to be any good. Probably big budget on sets, but skip good character development and writing.