Daily Dialogue — June 14, 2012

“Sorry, I didn’t hear you in all this rain. Go in, please.”

— Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins), Psycho (1960), screenplay by Joseph Stefano, based on a book by Robert Bloch

— Norman Bates (Vince Vaughan), Psycho (1998), screenplay by Joseph Stefano, based on a book by Robert Bloch

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is originals and remakes, suggested by Saint716. Today’s suggestion by James McCormick.

Trivia: Anne Heche had never seen the original Psycho before being cast as Marion Crane.

Dialogue On Dialogue: Here are James’ thoughts about these two movies:

I was looking for a side by side comparison of the shower scene — I remember Gus Van Sant’s version cutting away to clouds randomly.

The problem with remakes is fans of the original expect the same experience as the original — and let’s be honest, if that’s not the plan, why do a remake at all?

This is arguably one of the “truest” remakes ever put to film. It’s also one of the seemingly most pointless (although I do find it very interesting as a case study).

I, personally, prefer remakes where the director does his own spin on the entire story, differentiating it from the original movie, while still keeping the original’s heart and soul. (Check out THE STEPFORD WIVES remake to see what I mean about a remake losing it’s heart and soul).

But in Psycho’s case, with such a strict adherence to shot for shot copying, it’s actually the director flourishes in the remake that I find the most infuriating.

It’s like Gus Van Sant is saying, “Hitchcock your movie is perfect. It’s so perfect that I’m going to shot for shot remake it, I humbly bow down to your greatness — EXCEPT I think you should have cut away to clouds during the shower scene. Here, let me just fix that for you.”

The little changes are magnified exponentially.

Good points. What a meaningless exercise remaking Psycho

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