Since it's now pretty much legal to take an Alfred Hitchcock movie, cast it with teens, make it dumber and call it original, it looks like more people are going to follow D.J. Caruso's lead with "Disturbia." So it can't be too much of a surprise that "Strangers On A Train" is going to get a makeover.
The British production by Slingshot Productions and BBC Films (they should be ashamed) will utilize a script by Joshua St. Johnston (the creator of the BBC fashion drama series "Material Girl") that uses the starting point of the Hitchcock film, two strangers meeting on a train, and turns it into a "boy meets girl, girl turns out to be raving psychopath..." story which makes us wonder why they're bothering dragging Hitchcock's name through the mud in the first place. And if that wasn't weird enough, Richard Linklater's "Before Sunrise" is also being cited as an influence for what we can only presume will be a narrative device that has the entire film taking place over a single night.
No word yet on when this abomination will go into production, but we can only presume that Shia LaBeouf is at the top of the list of casting choices. It's about time he gave an accent a whirl.Or maybe James McAvoy and Emile Hirsch; they already seem to wear the suits well. [Deadline]
In a lawsuit that we forgot was happening, a judge has ruled that "Disturbia," the film that made Shia LaBeouf a star, does not infringe on the copyright of "Rear Window."
The suit was brought to court by the very un-fun sounding people The Sheldon Abend Revocable Trust who argued that D.J. Caruso's film bore more than a striking resemblance to the plot of the Cornell Woolrich short story that inspired Alfred Hitchock's classic film.
But New York District Court judge Laura Taylor Swan is having none of that ruling, "The main plots are similar only at a high, unprotectible level of generality," with Swan adding, "Where 'Disturbia' is rife with sub-plots, the short story has none. The setting and mood of the short story are static and tense, whereas the setting and mood of 'Disturbia' are more dynamic and peppered with humor and teen romance."
This is probably the only case in history where the judge probably had to head down to Blockbuster and rent "Disturbia."
So there you have it. It's now legal and on the books: "Disturbia" is not a ripoff of "Rear Window." For all you budding filmmakers out there looking to make a name for yourselves, find a classic film, pitch it at a teen audience, throw in some junky subplots and your ass is covered. And who says Hollywood is out of ideas? [Reuters]
Since it's now pretty much legal to take an Alfred Hitchcock movie, cast it with teens, make it dumber and call it original, it looks like more people are going to follow D.J. Caruso's lead with "Disturbia." So it can't be too much of a surprise that "Strangers On A Train" is going to get a makeover.
