ErikLundegaard.com - Hollywood to Remake Audiard's 'Un Prophete'

Hollywood to Remake Audiard's 'Un Prophete'

Columbia Pictures and parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment have optioned the English language rights to remake “Rust and Bone” director Jacques Audiard's much-celebrated 2009 French crime thriller “A Prophet”...

Be prepared for a mainstream Hollywood remake, because the English-language version of this super-gritty piece of cinema realism will be produced by producers Neal H. Moritz and Toby Jaffe through Moritz's Original Film, whose filmography includes this year's “Fast and Furious 6” and “Jack the Giant Slayer.”

It's worse than that. Among Moritz's production credits, these films:

Total Recall (2012)
The Change-Up
Battle Los Angeles
The Green Hornet
Vantage Point
Gridiron Gang
Stealth
S.W.A.T.
xXx

Plus all of the Fast und Furious movies. And he's remaking my favorite film of 2010.

At one point in “Un Prophete,” a fellow inmate tells Malik (Tahir Rahim), “The idea is to leave here a little smarter." I don't think that'll be possible in the Hollywood version.

Malik (Tahar Rahim) and Cesar (Neils Arestrup) in Jacques Audiard's "Un Prophete"

Malik (Tahar Rahim) and Cesar (Neils Arestrup) contemplate the American remake of their Cesar-winning film.

Posted at 02:39 PM on Wed. Jun 05, 2013 in category Movies - Foreign
Tags: Un Prophete, Jacques Audiard, Hollywood Remakes

COMMENTS

Reed wrote:

Not that long ago, I tried to write a list of the top ten domestic remakes of foreign movies. I got through Some Like it Hot and The Departed, and then found myself “reaching” for things like Insomnia, The Ring, and Vanilla Sky. These American remakes never aspire to even match the original. Maybe movies aren't easily “covered” like music anyway. Domestic remakes of domestic successes usually don't work out either...

Comment posted on Wed. Jun 05, 2013 at 03:28 PM

Erik wrote:

I liked THE BIRDCAGE. The recent GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO wasn't bad. But yes.

Comment posted on Wed. Jun 05, 2013 at 04:21 PM

Erik wrote:

BIRDCAGE aside, Hollywood is particulary bad with Francis Veber comedies:

Le Diner des cons --> Dinner with Schmucks
La Chevre --> Pure Luck
Les Comperes --> Fathers; Day