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Ok so there seems to be two issues in this thread; Why Jack Black, Why a remake?
Why Jack Black?
Why the hell not Jack Black? Comedy is hard, drama is (relatively) easy. Nearly every comic actor at some point in their career has done a serious dramatic role and for the most part they have been successful. Comic actors have timing, they understand inflection and pace, its actually quite easy to reel in the zaniness and just play it straight. Going the other direction is MUCH more difficult. Say for example Adrien Brody was going to play a zany inventor with crazy hair and a funny catch phrase... I would be far more afraid of that movie than this one, going from Drama to Comedy is a whole other animal. Just off the top of my head, about the only actor I can think of who moved succesfully from Drama to Comedy (and back again) is Chris Walken.
And another thing; why is it that the movie going public is under the impression that actors make (create) movies?
They're just actors, they read lines off of a page and walk (or run) from point X to point Y when the director tells them to. If the director does not like the way they walked or talked... they make them do it again. It's just that simple. Directors, Writers and Editors make movies, the actors are just the floor sweepers in the movie making factory.
Do you seriously think that Peter Jackson is going to let JB slip a poopie joke into the dialogue and PJ won't notice? Is he going to make funny faces at the camera and the editor WON'T leave that footage on the cutting room floor... c'mon, he's a fucking actor. He does what he is told and he goes home.
How much do you think Tom Cruise is really going to contribute to War of the Worlds? I'll tell ya... nothing. It's nothing more than pure marketing to have Tom Cruise's name and face on the movie poster. Tom Green could have acted the role just has compentently (maybe that's a stretch) because at the end of the day W of the W is about the explosions, the special effects and the big scary Aliens. I find it so sad that these days mere actors have been elevated almost the point of minor deities just becase they have a pretty face and can deliver a line on cue... I'll say it again, they're just fucking actors.
Peter Jackson is going to make a good movie.
Why Remake it?
For the same reason that William Shakespeare's plays have been produced and staged continuosly for over 500 years; some stories are so good that they deserve to be retold over and over as each generation comes of age.
Even without the new CGI tech and fancy blue-screen editing, remaking a classic movie like King Kong would still be a valid candidate for remake. SImply because it is a greatm, solid story about man vs nature.
Did Bewitched need to be remade? No. Should Godzilla have been remade? Probably not in the form it was (with Mathew Broderick).
But some stories deserve to be retold over and over and over again. Not just because "hollywood is out of ideas" but because a good story can be reinterpreted in exciting new ways.
And that is what a good director and screenwriter are all about my friends.
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The Truth:
Johnny Cash could have kicked Bruce Lee's ass if he wanted to.
#3 in a series
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