Straw Dogs remake on the way

[Hunter Rider]

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=19652

Rod Lurie Remaking Straw Dogs
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
March 30, 2007


Rod Lurie is on board to direct a remake of the 1971 thriller Straw Dogs for Screen Gems. "The Shield" writer Reed Steiner is penning the screenplay.

Screen Gems is in the process of acquiring the rights to the Dustin Hoffman starrer, which originally was produced by ABC Pictures Corp.

The original, directed by Sam Peckinpah, revolved around a young American and his English wife who move to rural England and face increasingly vicious local harassment. Plot details for the remake are being kept under wraps, but sources said it will take place in the U.S.

Lurie's producing partner Marc Frydman will produce.

 

[SoulManX]

Im sick of the word "remake."

 

[Dark Donnie]

I own the original but haven't had a chance to watch yet

 

[Movies205]

I bought the Criterion Edition a while back cuz it was going out of print and it starred Dustin Hoffman and was directed by Sam Peckinpah but I haven't watched it yet

 

[Dark Donnie]

EXCL: Rod Lurie on the Straw Dogs Remake
Source: Edward Douglas August 17, 2007


Filmmaker Rod Lurie has made a name for himself with original ideas that have spawned the critically lauded 2000 political drama The Contender and a number of much-appreciated television shows like "Line of Fire" and "Commander in Chief." With that in mind, it was somewhat surprising to learn that he was planning to tackle his first full-on remake of Sam Peckinpah's 1971 violent revenge thriller Straw Dogs.

When ComingSoon.net recently had an extended talk with Lurie about his new movie Resurrecting the Champ, he told us that he's currently writing that remake with plans to shoot next May, and he also told us how this remake came his way. "My partner Marc Frydman came up with the idea to acquire the rights, which very quietly were floating around somewhere and we just snatched it up, because it's sort of a classic film in the sense that it's infamous. It's a good not great film by a great director, and we thought if we modernized it and Americanized it, it's rife for a remake, so we just went for it."

"It's an interesting film, isn't it?" he continued, "but it was pretty much killed by a two-second moment on screen where his wife is being raped and she smiles. That was the end of that movie. You can be certain that she's not going to be smiling in the rape in my film. I was a critic for years, and very often our reviews will say, 'Well, if he had done this, it would have been a better film.' I look at 'Straw Dogs' as a very imperfect movie. It's a little bit slow and it's themes are a little bit murky. There are some amazing moments and it's a very satisfying movie, but you sort of look at what can be improved upon now. It may seem very arrogant to say, 'We can improve upon Peckinpah.' I can never improve upon the best of Peckinpah. I would never remake 'The Wild Bunch' but this is a film that I think he was a little lazy on, and it's a fascinating story. What I really want to do is make a movie about what it means to be a bully, how easy it is to become a bully, and how decency is defined I think by not being a bully when you have the opportunity to be one."

Knowing Lurie's bent for politics, might there be a bit of hidden political underpinnings in that statement? Only time will tell, but next up for Lurie is Nothing but the Truth, a movie about the First Amendment, and on Monday, you can read our full interview with the filmmaker as he talks extensively about his current movie Resurrecting the Champ, which opens on Friday, August 24.

kinda wanna watch it now, that sounds really weird

 

[Kevin Roegele]

I own the original but haven't had a chance to watch yet

It's f****** awesome. It really is superb. One of my favourites ever.

 

[Mr. Credible]

It's f****** awesome. It really is superb. One of my favourites ever.

of course it is.

whenever a movie is being remade, it's automatically someone's favorite movie, no matter how obscure.

 

[Dark Donnie]

It's f****** awesome. It really is superb. One of my favourites ever.

I bought it like 2 years ago maybe, I think I was going through a Hoffman phase....I really need to get around to watching it, it sounds like.

 

[Cyrusbales]

I'm not a fan of Straw dogs anyway, it doesn't need a remake, it should just be left alone. My friend who works for the BBFC described perfectly why it wasn't given a release clasification in the UK for so long.

"It was needlessly explicit and provacative to instilling disgust, without having enough purpose, character and consequentialism to validate the content. Shocking for the sake of shocking, the easy route to prestige."

Or something very similar to that. My friend goes around giving talks to various universities etc, Straw Dogs is something that comes up a lot.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

of course it is.

whenever a movie is being remade, it's automatically someone's favorite movie, no matter how obscure.

.......ooo-kay......

 

[Kevin Roegele]

I'm not a fan of Straw dogs anyway, it doesn't need a remake, it should just be left alone. My friend who works for the BBFC described perfectly why it wasn't given a release clasification in the UK for so long.

"It was needlessly explicit and provacative to instilling disgust, without having enough purpose, character and consequentialism to validate the content. Shocking for the sake of shocking, the easy route to prestige."

Straw Dogs was caught up in the video nasties incident.

This ruling was overturned in 2002, and Straw Dogs has been avaliable on DVD since.

 

[Cyrusbales]

Straw Dogs was caught up in the video nasties incident.

This ruling was overturned in 2002, and Straw Dogs has been avaliable on DVD since.

I know, but the logic behind it's 'unclassification' for so long was pretty sound IMO.

 

[Kevin Roegele]

I know, but the logic behind it's 'unclassification' for so long was pretty sound IMO.

Do you really think it needed to be banned? Do you think it's that horrific? (Not sarcasm by the way).

 

[Movies205]

of course it is.

whenever a movie is being remade, it's automatically someone's favorite movie, no matter how obscure.

2 things...

First of Sam Peckinpah is one of the great directors, his films have inspired a generation of film-maker, so he's left his mark... he's hardly obscure in the film world, so your point is moot on that fact.

And two, though it need not be said... Kevin's a cool dude, why you got give him ****

 

[cryptic name]

of course it is.

whenever a movie is being remade, it's automatically someone's favorite movie, no matter how obscure.

you not knowing about it doesn't make it obscure

 

[The Man]

Straw Dogs is a great ****ing movie why does it have do be remade?

only remake I like is the Psycho by Gus Van Sant.

 

[Lady Stormcrow]

Its a very good film, and certainly doesnt require a remake.

 

[Cyrusbales]

Do you really think it needed to be banned? Do you think it's that horrific? (Not sarcasm by the way).

It's not that it's so horrific, but more that I find it pointless with it's use of the explicit.

 

[Lady Stormcrow]

I dont think it was the violence that got it banned, but more the controversial bit where the woman is being raped, and yet seems to enjoy it.
It was greatly protested by feminists.

 

[Mr. Credible]

you not knowing about it doesn't make it obscure

fair to say, but i'm a pretty big movie buff, maybe not by message board standards, where everyone is a bona fide movie buff, but surely by real life standards...

so yeah, me not knowing about this movie may not make it obscure, but never hearing it even mentioned once on this board, or in real life, like... ever.... does.

 

[Cyrusbales]

fair to say, but i'm a pretty big movie buff, maybe not by message board standards, where everyone is a bona fide movie buff, but surely by real life standards...

so yeah, me not knowing about this movie may not make it obscure, but never hearing it even mentioned once on this board, or in real life, like... ever.... does.

It's the centre of many censorship debates, like "Freaks" etc is, although Freaks is actually a superb movie of genius, unlike this one.

 

[Mr. Credible]

see, now freaks i've heard of.


i've been on this forum for a few years, and i've always had jobs that allow me to check the forums more or less every day, and i've never heard of this movie... that's my point. i've seen no one mention this "important" movie in at leaast a few years on here, until a remake is mentioned, then it's like, "oh my god, my favorite!!! they're ruining a classic that i haven't given a second thought to in the last 5 years!"

it's stupid.

 

[L0ngsh0t]

I'm not a fan of Straw dogs anyway, it doesn't need a remake, it should just be left alone. My friend who works for the BBFC described perfectly why it wasn't given a release clasification in the UK for so long.

"It was needlessly explicit and provacative to instilling disgust, without having enough purpose, character and consequentialism to validate the content. Shocking for the sake of shocking, the easy route to prestige."

Or something very similar to that. My friend goes around giving talks to various universities etc, Straw Dogs is something that comes up a lot.

hey sweet in very unlike cyrusbales fashion he is pretty much telling us how good a movie is, and that their is no alternative-so I guess we don't have to watch it cause Cyrus says so...just cause you don't like it doesn't mean it shouldn't get a remake

your friend is no more or less credible than anyone on these boards, and which are also no more or less credible than movie critics in general, everyone has their own opinion, some people have an elitest enough opinion to trick common folk into thinking that is how movie critiquing should be, but their opinion is no better or worse.

Straw Dogs is a solid flick, nothing to outstanding, I however don't think it needs a remake, unless they do something like make a movie inspired by it or something like that

the only movies I think should get remakes are movies with budgets so low, and such primitive technology they couldn't do what they wanted, and now they have the chance-like for example I am in favor or the Death Race 3000 remake cause the first one they tried to make a (at the time) 25 million dollar movie for a million dollars or something like that. Maybe I wouldn't get Paul W.S. Anderson and Tyreese in it, but that's just me

 

[Cyrusbales]

I don't like it.

I never said my freinds opinion was better than anyone, I just felt he(and the BBFC) summed up the nature of the film quite well.

I wouldn't recommend people to watch it.

They shouldn't remake it, because it's not really good enough in all honesty.

 

[Movies205]

fair to say, but i'm a pretty big movie buff, maybe not by message board standards, where everyone is a bona fide movie buff, but surely by real life standards...

so yeah, me not knowing about this movie may not make it obscure, but never hearing it even mentioned once on this board, or in real life, like... ever.... does.

Not to be a dick... But someone has to... If you don't know who Sam Peckinpah is then there's no way your a movie buff.