KCBA - Monterey, Salinas, Santa Cruz - News Weather-BACK ROOM EDITION: Will Smith and remakes

A report surfaced this week that Will Smith is remaking tearjerker "Flowers for Algernon." Smith would star in the film and produce via his Overbrook Entertainment banner. There have been other adaptations but the most famous one hails from 1968 and starred Cliff Robertson. He won the Oscar for playing Charly, a mentally retarded man who is a human test subject for a procedure that ups the intelligence quotient. The Algernon of the title is a lab mouse who also undergoes the surgery. When Charly learns the truth behind the experiment, the tissues come out big time.

While the international box office superstar Smith would certainly bring the story to a whole new generation, it also appears that Smith has remake fever. His company also owns the remake rights to "Welcome to the Sticks" which, as Bienvenue Chez les Ch'Tis, is the highest grossing French film in that country's history. It made over $200 million at the box office in 2008 ? to put that into perspective, the highest grossing film of all time in France is Titanic and that sold just under 300,000 more tickets than "Les Ch'tis" ? but is about as "local" a comedy as they come. The film is set in a northern region of France which is known for its customs and rather bizarre patois. Smith hasn't been attached to star in that project but he would be a producer if it comes to be made. The question many in France posit with that one is where on Earth the film could be set in the US to take proper advantage of what made the original so special.

Meanwhile, another Smith remake project, Old Boy, is apparently dead in the water this week. The original Korean film is a violent revenge drama directed by Park Chan-wook. Smith and Steven Spielberg were teamed for that project but reports are that Spielberg's DreamWorks has walked away.

In any case, if indeed Smith is remaking "Algernon," done well it could nab him the elusive Oscar he's been after since he started peppering his resume with serious fare in between actioners and comedies. He was previously nominated in 2002 for Ali and in 2007 for The Pursuit of Happyness but has yet to make it to the podium.

That remake bug must run in the family. Smith's son Jaden starred with his dad in "Happyness" and had a role in The Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the 1951 original. Next up he'll wax on and wax off in the update of 1984's Karate Kid.

The Casting Couch

Last week we talked about The Tourist and the revolving door the cast and directors that have been entering and exiting since the project's inception. The latest news last week was that star Sam Worthington had dropped out and Johnny Depp was being courted to step in. There's not been any news on that but director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who reportedly also left the project last week (to potentially be replaced by Alfonso Cuaron), this week told Movieline that he was indeed still attached. Referring to the premature reports of his departure, von Donnersmarck said, "In the trades, everything they say?I think you can discount a lot of it. It's just a way of talking about the business, and sometimes things get out about heated points of discussion. We'll see how it plays out with that one."

Another picture that has change-up written all over it is Moneyball. Brad Pitt is still attached to star as Oakland A's manager Billy Beane in the project based on Michael Lewis' book but the film is still without a director since Steven Soderbergh took a walk this summer. Sony then called in Aaron Sorkin to pinch hit on Steve Zaillian's original script. And, now, it looks like the project is finding some heat once again. Both directors Bennett Miller (an Oscar nominee for Capote) and Marc Webb (of summer sleeper (500) Days of Summer) have reportedly met recently with the producers, studio and star. [link]

Jake Gyllenhaal will play a soldier who wakes up in the body of an unknown commuter and is forced to relive a train bombing over and over until he can find the perpetrator in Source Code. This was one of the big titles selling at last week's American Film Market in Santa Monica. Moon director ? and son of David Bowie - Duncan Jones, will direct. [link]

There's a reunion happening in the third Meet the Parents film, Little Fockers. Obviously it's a reunion for all the players including Ben Stiller, Teri Polo, Owen Wilson, Blythe Danner and Robert De Niro who've worked together in the previous two flicks. But, news is just out that Harvey Keitel will also join the cast. The two mastodons of the Scorsese canon both appeared on screen in 1973's Mean Streets and 1976's Taxi Driver. They've worked in some other projects since but nothing as memorable as those two cinema verité pictures and they've never done a comedy. Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand have yet to commit but it is likely they will reprise their roles as the trippy Bernie and Rozalin Focker. [link]

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