Alfred Hitchcock, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934/1955)
The story of a tourist couple caught in an international conspiracy to murder a high-ranking person was first published in 1934. Shot by then-director Alfred Hitchcock, the thriller was considered his most successful work before conquering Hollywood.
Almost 20 years later, the director decided to completely remake the film with new actors and a changed location: the characters went on vacation to Morocco instead of Switzerland. The remake almost completely replays the original plot, but the timing of attempt #2 was increased by 45 minutes.
In an interview with his French colleague François Truffaut, Hitchcock explained his desire to remake the film this way: “The first picture was taken by a talented amateur, the second by a true professional.”
Michael Mann, “Made in LA” (“LA Takedown”, 1989) / “Fight” (“Heat”, 1995)
Michael Mann’s cult action movie “Fight” is one of the best works in the career of the director, who played the main roles of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. But few people know that there is a complete “sketch” of the 1995 movie “Made in Los Angeles”.
Initially, the script for the picture was created as a pilot for a future series, but the multi-part project was never implemented, and Mann developed the story to a full meter on a fairly modest budget. But of course, the lack of outstanding artists in the 1989 version and the looseness of the script draw attention.
With 1992’s Last of the Mohicans, Mann gave a second life to the script for the movie about the confrontation between a cunning robber and a skilled police officer. This time the director had a chance to return: a budget of $ 60 million and absolute freedom of action helped him make a picture that later became a cult film.
George Sluizer, “Disappearing” (“Spoorloos”, 1988) / “Disappearing”, 1993)
Based on Tim Crabbe’s Golden Egg book, Vanishing is about a couple in love, Rex and Saskia, who go on vacation together. On the way, they stop at a gas station, where Saskia has disappeared without a trace. Three years later, Rex continues to search for his lover and begins to receive strange messages, apparently sent to him by the kidnapper. In the final, the audience expected a shocking (especially for that time) ending.
The picture of 1988 became a real European hit, and to the performer of the role of Saskia the Dutch actress Johane ter Steege brought the European Film Academy Award. Even Stanley Kubrick called The Vanishing the scariest horror movie he had ever seen.
In the early 90s, George Sluizer decided to remake the film for Hollywood with significant changes: if in the original the events of the film developed non-linearly, now the script is built in order, and the most important change affected the finale – the director made concessions to the producers and made the original film’s terrible ending with an optimistic happy ending. made it to the end.
All this robbed a remake of the agony of the original film that explores the nature of evil and its possible impunity. The American version was not only toothless, it was also a huge disappointment, showing how an exciting story could turn into a faceless version of itself.
Michael Haneke, Funny Games (1997/2007)
If the changes in plot and plot disappointed Sluizer, Haneke’s desire to copy the story exactly the same played against him. Released in the late ’90s, Funny Games was a cinematic shock, about a pair of maniacs scaring a harmless family.
Ten years later, the famous Austrian gave his children a second life: he re-shot the film with American actors (Tim Roth and Naomi Watts) in English and frame by frame in the scene where the 1997 movie was shot.
Haneke’s miscalculation was that the shocking plot of the original film was understandable to a European audience, but completely alien to Western audiences who grew up with more optimistic cinema. Moreover, a candid story about the cruelty of the modern world turned into an age limit for renting the American version of the film, which reduced the potential audience.
Thus, Haneke’s plan to increase the audience for the film had the opposite effect. It turned out to be a meaningless and absolutely unnecessary version of the film, which has already managed to reach its audience.
Olivier Assayas, “Irma Vep” (“Irma Vep”, 1996/2022)
At the beginning of June, the premiere of the series “Irma VepIt is a remake of the 1996 film of the same name by Olivier Assayas. Assayas’ projects are films within a film. So, the original “Irma Vep” is a partial version of another project from 1915, the series “Vampires”.
Irma Vep tells the story of an actress who gradually loses herself in character while filming in Paris, 1996 and 2022. In the full-length picture, the story ended when the director nevertheless managed to remake the final version of the film for himself. In the serial remake, Assayas seemed to have the same goal: he sought to improve the story and improve his MCU. In fact, he successfully coped with these tasks.
Ole Bornedal, Night Watchman (Nattevagten, 1994) / Night Watch (Nightwatch, 1997)
Director Ole Bornedal composed the plot of the film, which is about a student who starts to work as a night watchman in the morgue and witnesses terrible events, after visiting the morgue. A painting of the 1994 version with Danish stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (future Jaime Lannister from Game of Thrones) and Kim Bodnia (future Constantine).Killing Eve”) turned out to be a tense thriller about our deepest fears.
The success of the tape changed Miramax’s desire for a North American remake. Bornedal was again in the director’s chair, but this time the main roles were entrusted to him. Ewan McGregor and Josh Brolin. The new adaptation is called “Night Watch” and is done exactly like the original story, except for the opening scene.
Problems with the remake arose in post-production when Miramax’s bosses hired Steven Soderbergh and instructed him to “polish the final cut.” Thus began the routine of re-editing and re-shooting, which lasted almost 2 years. The final result disappointed both the creators and the audience. For some stories, the adaptation to the American market turned out to be disastrous.
Sebatian Lelio, Gloria (2013) / Gloria Bell (2018)
In 2018, Chilean director Sebastian Lelio released an American version of his own melodrama Gloria, including the surname Bell in the remake title. This is a story about a mature woman who has been divorced for over 10 years. Their children grew up and started a life of their own. To somehow revive her free time, Gloria goes to dances, where she meets Arnold, a divorced man who also has adult heirs. Threatened by Arnold’s close relationship with his former family, a beautiful romantic streak develops between the characters.
Hollywood’s Gloria Bell turned out to be just as charming and poignant as the original. The changes only affected the location change (Los Angeles instead of Chile) and the playlist chosen taking into account the cultural differences of Latin and North America.
And although the second life of history was not in vain, even the director himself cannot seem to answer the question, why should foreign films be Americanized? Moreover, its subjects are universal and the art form is understandable to audiences from various countries despite the language barrier.