“Zhang Yimou remaking Coens’ ‘Blood Simple’”
So okay, Zhang Yimou has written and/or directed seventeen movies that have won or been nominated for 71 international awards including the Grand Prize Jury award in 1974 at Cannes for the movie Huozhe. But the lizard part of my brain is crying out, “Please say this ain’t so”:
Zhang Yimou has started shooting a remake of the Coen brothers’ debut, “Blood Simple,” the “Raise the Red Lantern” director’s first film since designing the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Olympics last year, a publicist said Tuesday.
Is nothing sacred?
She [publicist] declined to reveal the plot of the film, but “Blood Simple” is about a Texas bar owner who hires a private detective to kill his wife and her lover. The 1984 movie starring Frances McDormand won the Grand Jury Prize for best film at the United States Film Festival — the predecessor to the Sundance Film Festival — helping establish Joel and Ethan Coen’s reputations.
We’ve been over and over this subject of remakes. I understand the thinking behind the practice: Remaking a successful movie is a plus from a financial point of view because (A) you’re starting with a movie that worked, so it increases the chances that the remake will, too, (B) you have a built-in audience awareness from the original film, © potential audience not only the ‘newbies’ who have not seen the original, but also ‘oldies’ who have and can be lured in to see the remake, and so on.
But why classic movies or cult favorites like Blood Simple?
If Hwood is going to do remakes, why not take the approach that Michael Adams of The Wrap espouses:
Anyway, as I’ve said before, why not focus more on flicks with good ideas that weren’t done right the first time around, rather than simply retelling already brilliantly told stories simply to make a buck?
To that end, a modest proposal.
Before plundering the likes of “The Silence of the Lambs.” “Reservoir Dogs,” “The Piano,” “Groundhog Day” or “GoodFellas,” how about retooling these 13 movie misses from the 1990s into something audiences might see and enjoy in the 20-tweens?
It’s a list that includes Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Joe Versus the Volcano, and Darkman.
No matter. Here comes Yimou’s remake of Blood Simple — called Amazing Tales: Three Guns. And given the fact that Yimou is involved — a truly creative writer and director — he may do more of an adaptation than remake, taking Blood Simple and reinterpreting it in a bold new way. Huozhe is certainly a wonderful movie. Here’s a clip:
What do you think? Are you itching to see a remake of Blood Simple?