Confidential Report to be remade

[akio]

Producer Mark Johnson's Gran Via Productions is teaming with Pacifica to acquire rights to remake the 1955 Orson Welles-directed film ``The Confidential Report.''

They've brought aboard screenwriter Joshua Safran to draft the remake, which will be produced by Johnson and Jane Park. The deal follows the recent faithful[?!] remake of Welles' script for ``The Magnificent Ambersons.''

``Report'' is a more streamlined template for a character-driven thriller. The film, which was an adaptation of a novel penned by Welles, revolved around a grifter who's hired by a wealthy financier to trace figures from his past. The grifter gets more than he bargained for when he falls in love with the power broker's daughter.

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20020205/en/film-dish_9.html

[R Kadin]

AT LAST my story will be told, this time, no doubt, as I always intended it to be: where I win! Why? Because I ALWAYS win...hahahahaha!

[Jeff Wilson]

Er, right. Anyhow, who's going to be the lucky actor to play the dull-witted sleazebag Van Stratten? Any suggestions out there? And more to the point, who'll be Arkadin?



Edited By Jeff Wilson on Feb. 08 2002 at 14:48

[R Kadin]

Van Stratten? What about Michael Douglas, Jeff Daniels, Jeff Bridges, or Dennis Quaid... even George Clooney (except the film would be all about him)...hmmm... Russell Crowe could probably pull it off...what about giving Hugh Jackman a chance at a real role? and if somebody could get Bono to act that could get interesting - a bit of casting OW himself might have enjoyed. As for Arkadin... Ben Kingsley, Warren Beatty (I think OW would LOVE the irony in that choice), Jack Nicholson (Welles had a fondness for hammy performances), so many more possibilities...

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

Oh, man! Why all these remakes?
I like Mr. Welles' version of Mr. Arkadin the way it is?

I like it, I love it, but I don't want more of it. Unless he were going to portray Mr. Arkadin.

Everyones trying to replace him.

Not only those two, but who whould portray the daughter, and the rest of the characters? Hmm?

[R Kadin]

You're right, of course, O_with_O. Try as they might, they can't better the master. Flaws and all, his work still leaves 'em in the dust. And it's not like the plot was so compelling that it cries out to be re-told. Leave it be, I agree.

[Welles Fan]

A recent biography of Stalin told how he got a famous Russian playwright (Bulgakov, I think) to write a play about Stalin's early years. The play was to be called Koba, after Stalin's pseudonym in those early years of the revolution (remember that Stalin is but a pseudonym-his real name was Josef Vissiaronovitch djzhugashvili or something close to that). Once, Bulgakov (or whoever it was) finished his research, Stalin cancelled the project, confiscated all materials relating to the research, and had the playwright "watched". Apparently, the reason for the project was so that Stalin could destroy all the history of himself in those years, and he needed someone to ferret it out for him. He apparently had a history as a provovateur, among other things, and wanted to make sure that no "facts" about his life were known unless he made them up himself.

Kinda reminds me of a certain Confidential Report.

[ToddBaesen]

-

Actually, this will be the second re-make of MR. ARKADIN. Did anyone else notice how closely Roman Polanski's THE NINTH GATE resembled MR. ARKADIN? Of course, Polanski is a great admirer of Welles, and THE NINTH GATE was based on a novel, but I'd have to say the book must have been at least inspired by MR. ARKADIN.

[Jeff Wilson]

If The Ninth Gate was inspired by Arkadin, it's very very loosely so. The only similarity that comes to mind is the murder of each possessor of the book that Johnny Depp's character is searching for once he finds them, and that's done for entirely different reasons than Arkadin's. The original book differs in numerous ways from the film, not the least of which is the villain in the film has no such role in the book; indeed, that character narrates the book.

Speaking of Polanski, I just saw Repulsion this past week on the big screen. A great film. His film of Macbeth is among my favorite screen adaptations of Shakespeare. Too bad it doesn't have a decent home video release yet.

[jaime marzol]

mr arkadin. yet another project with welles flavoring. it's quite a good story. and according to welles, the only film title he ever made up.

for van stratten i would cast john torturo. but you would have to cast a not too sharp looking girl to beleive that she would fall for torturo. and to play arkadin, marlon brando.

and we can get parts for christopher walken, dennis hopper.

.

[Cole]

Just an aside, I agree with you Jeff. Repulsion is a great flick. I’d love to see it on a big screen. It’s a movie that must have had a big impact on David Lynch. (The scenes of the decaying rabbit – uggh.)

You can go back to talking about the remake of ARKADIN now. Maybe it will be as good as the remake of AMBERSONS (….hah!)

[jaime marzol]

had repulsion, tried it, didn't dig it, taped over it. i probably should have given it another shot, huh?

[Welles Fan]

I have to say I didn't care too much for Repulsion either. I do like Polanski, though. Enjoyed Knife in the Water, The Tenant, and Tess.

[jaime marzol]

i've never seen any of those polansky movies. welles fan. i remember seeing macbeth many years ago and liking it. i'm sure it's probably available in lbx today. that will probably be my next feature hunt. i hear polansky's macbeth is more true to the play than welles' is. but who care about being true to the play when it rendered in welles' case such a magnificent film.

too bad welles didn't have many opportunities to make more projects like that.

[LA]

Re: Polanski, I've seen KNIFE IN THE WATER, CUL DE SAC, THE TENANT, thought they were all excellent. They have a great atmosphere of unease, THE TENANT especially.

Re: ARKADIN remake, this current vogue of Welles-remaking reminds me of the period a couple of years back when the same thing was happening with Hitchcock. That vogue didn't turn out very well, I doubt this one will. On the other hand, if the producer Mark Johnson is the same one who produced Mike Newell's film of DONNIE BRASCO, then the new ARKADIN may be half-decent, though of course the important thing is: who's going to direct?
Even if it turns out for the worst, the remake will attract attention to the original film, which must be a good thing.

Van Stratten casting: How about Tim Roth?