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Post by deadpool on Sept 12, 2011 15:43:54 GMT -5
I'm sure that we all have seen a film that is very similar to another film that you have seen. Sometimes it is a remake and sometimes it's simply a similar concept. Now as a screenwriter it can be very irritating to come up with a concept that you genually care for and are interested in writing and you really love the idea and then you find out there has been a similar idea already made. Now the real question is when does it become acceptible to make a similar film. Obviously you are not going to do it word for word but how similar is too similar to you?
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Post by johnnyunusual on Sept 12, 2011 17:55:33 GMT -5
It depends. Some films are pastiches or love letters to previous films. Others are taking a similar or familiar concepts and adding something new to it (or taking something away, if your a minimalist I suppose). So I suppose it becomes unacceptable when it doesn't include the creator's own voice, adds nothing new and overall feels like a diluted or uninteresting of what came before. There's nothing wrong with similarity at all, but if you are not doing anything unique or at the very least fascinating with it, then you are doing it wrong.
I believe the cliche is that there are only 7 stories in the world. It's up to you to find a way to remix it, retell it, or if you are crazy ballsy/experimental to find that eighth story. Good luck!
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Post by deadpool on Sept 12, 2011 19:46:52 GMT -5
True I recently attended a Q&A with Robert England and he actually deffended hollywood saying that there are only so many stories you can tell around the campfire and that sooner or later you will have to retell things. He also backed up remakes saying that they can be nessacary because there are some people who won't watch a black and white movie and don't care about anything before they were born.
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Post by bouncingbrick on Sept 13, 2011 16:23:58 GMT -5
Somehow I'm thinking the remake that Robert Englund was talking about shouldn't be defended...because it sucked.
However, are you also talking about things like Deep Impact and Armageddon? Because those films are basically the same thing, just executed totally differently. I don't think there's anything wrong with that sort of thing, it happens all the time. But the films have to set themselves apart or at least try to do new and/or different things.
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Post by deadpool on Sept 13, 2011 21:02:42 GMT -5
Actually he said he was ok with the remake and liked what they did. He said that it might have been done a little early and that it could have waited a little while but he enjoyed it. There are only so many times you can play the part and he was happy with jackies preformance. He really wants to see saloms lot remade.
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Post by Mladen on Sept 13, 2011 21:27:39 GMT -5
I'm more annoyed by the current trend of remaking foreign films half an hour after they're released in their original language.
Girl with the dragon tattoo, infernal affairs/the departed, death at a funeral, Let the Right One In / let me in, Insomnia, The Ring, etc
Frankly this really bothers me. Would it KILL you to see a film without american actors in it???
Normally I might not care, but in a lot of cases I've tried to rally people to go see the original in theatres, only to have them decline because they've heard there'll be an american version so they'll go and see that... ugh
There are some which I don't mind, like Magnificent Seven and Seven Samurai, since they left a decent gap in the releases of those films, and changed the remake quite a bit. Also, I'm willing to forgive most comedies (like the Parent Trap, the Birdcage, etc), since usually humour can be very regional and language specific (though I won't forgive Death at a Funeral, since both films are in English)
Also worth noting that Americans are also the worst at teasing asian countries for ripping off their films (like with the Bollywood Terminator/X-men/Superman and Turkish Star Wars movies). A slice of humble pie, perhaps?
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Post by bouncingbrick on Sept 13, 2011 21:32:20 GMT -5
Actually he said he was ok with the remake and liked what they did. He said that it might have been done a little early and that it could have waited a little while but he enjoyed it. There are only so many times you can play the part and he was happy with jackies preformance. He really wants to see saloms lot remade. Thus proving that Englund is either senile or being paid a lot of money by that studio. The remake sucked ass. Period. I agree with everything that Mladen said. |
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Post by frieaaron on Sept 14, 2011 11:38:01 GMT -5
Obviously you are not going to do it word for word but how similar is too similar to you? Remaking something line by line and word by word is really the only way it can be too similar for me, personally. Story telling is just as important to me as the story itself and it can actually make things more interesting to see the same story told different ways with regards to mood, technique, perspectives, etc. |
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Post by deadpool on Sept 20, 2011 13:08:38 GMT -5
I think that word for word is not a good idea but it can be effective in a remake. One of the best remakes I've seen latly is The Karate Kid. Yes I know that in this one is set in China and has an actual kid and they are doing kung fu but the overall story is there. Some parts of the film are word for word and then there are completly new scenes all together. Overall it was a solid movie and one ups the origional in places. I still hold the origional as the better movie though.
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