[Remake Topic]Stephen King's Carrie

[metallicorphan]

MSN

That cute kid from Kickass will star

Break out the pig's blood and cover up your "dirty pillows" because the Carrie remake is coming. Chloe Grace Moretz, last seen in Hugo and as Kick-Ass's Hit-Girl confirmed that she'll try to fill Sissy Spacek's sensible shoes in the title role. "Never been so happy in my life," she tweeted. "Thank you [director] Kim Pierce and thank u MGM for the chance of a lifetime I will never forget!" Moretz definitely has the acting chops to pull off the bullied telekinetic teen, although we'll be interested to see which actress will be terrifying enough to take on the role of Carrie's mom. If anyone needs us, we'll be waiting in our punishment closet.

Chloe Grace Moretz was also in the American Remake of 'Let The Right One In'(Let Me In)


I just re-read Carrie last month and got my DVD down to watch it,but never got round to it...think i need to see it again now

[Lordnine]

I read Carrie last year having never seen the movie.  I remember a lot praise for the movie itself but when I finally watched it I was very disappointed because it didn’t match the tone or message of the book at all.  I had the same problem with the Shining actually.  On their own they might be good or even great movies but they pale in comparison to the books they’re based on.

So here’s me being hopeful for the new adaptation!

[CeeKay]

I wonder if they will have freaky Jesus:

[Blackjack]

I saw Carrie in 1976 at age 11 and it scared the hell out of me. In the end though, it's a Brian DePalma movie (maybe his best), very much of its era, not a Stephen King Movie, and frankly that's probably for the best.

What I mean is, I've seen too many staid, faithful King adaptations that had no real life to them. Firestarter, Christine (a lesser John Carpenter effort he all but disowns), Pet Semetary, many others come to mind. At the least, with Carrie and Shining, their directors put their imprint on the story and made it memorable (even if one didn't like it). Many books based on King novels and short stories are just plain forgettable.

Much of King's book was told through "virtual news clippings" related in the book (which tell the story of the tragedy, looking back), and that simply wouldn't have worked in a movie.

As I recall, King's only complaint about the Carrie film (he talks about it in his cool Danse Macabre non-fiction book about the horror genre in general) was that the blonde guy who takes Carrie to the prom (played by "The Greatest American Hero"'s William Katt) comes across as a manipulated doofus in the movie; whereas in King's book he seems to truly like Carrie, and is ultimately proud to take her to the prom. In the novel, that gives some meaning to his fate; in the movie, he's just this blonde doofus knocked unconscious by a falling bucket.

I do think the bullying that sadly takes place today is largely cyber and digital -- its kids using cameras, webcams, Facebook, twitter, texts, e-mail etc. to be vicious to each other. You see this in the news every day. Maybe in retrospect, the kind of bullying I put up with in the 1970s (both racist, because Asian-Americans stood out more then; and physical, cause I was scrawny) was easy. Once I got home, I was safe -- I had no cyber bullying to deal with.

Anyway, that's probably how they'll update Carrie -- Carrie will get bullied by cellphone cam, social media, texting, e-mail etc. And then she'll lash out. I suspect that'll be the modern "twist."

I truly don't expect the remake to be anything but terrible and forgettable like most other remakes of 1970s films. I think Hollywood remaking 1970s and 1980s films is an enormous waste of time and money that shows screenwriters and studios are becoming increasingly, creatively bankrupt. i.e., they don't have any original ideas anymore.

I certainly like Moretz (she was charming in Hugo), though I don't quite see how they're going to make her seem "homely" or even "Plain." I'm sure between her Kick-Ass and the spectacularly gruesome "Let the Right One In"' experiences, the gore/violence factor won't bother her.

[metallicorphan]

I truly don't expect the remake to be anything but terrible and forgettable like most other remakes of 1970s films. I think Hollywood remaking 1970s and 1980s films is an enormous waste of time and money that shows screenwriters and studios are becoming increasingly, creatively bankrupt. i.e., they don't have any original ideas anymore.

Gotta agree,i mean The Rage:Carrie 2 was released a bit ago and pretty much nothing(cost $21mil,made $17mil),this would have to be something special


some past horror remakes,make your own mind up on what you thought(not included Japanese to US remakes)

Psycho
The Haunting
The Fog
Amityville Horror
Nightmare on Elm st
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Halloween 1 and 2
House on haunted hill
The Omen

[Bullwinkle]

Yeah, not a single one of those is better than the original.

[Blackjack]

From ComingSoonNet:
Chloe Moretz Talks About Her Starring Role In ‘Carrie’ Remake

"I'm actually not looking at the original," she says, "even though De Palma's movie was one of the best movies ever made. It's completely iconic and I'm proud to be able to be doing a retooling of it. We're kind of going off the book. It's darker and much more psychological. More 'Black Swan.' You're really looking into her mind and it really looks into the relationship of Margaret and Carrie. It's set in modern time, so it's a lot different."

The role of Margaret White (Carrie's mother) was played by Piper Laurie in De Palma's version, earning the actress an Academy Award nomination. Last week, word broke that Julianne Moore had been offered the part for the new film.

*Last week they mentioned it will have a "found footage" element, which I assume would be especially useful for the climactic prom sequence. Kids didn't have smartphones with HD video cams in their pockets in 1976; it makes sense everyone would be filming at a prom with their cellphones and I'll bet that's how they'll handle that sequence.

*Filming starts June 1.

*btw, here's what's wrong with "news aggregators." I had to peel back 3 layers to find out who the truly Original source of this interview was, because the aggregators were crediting each other as the source instead of the site that did the actual interview.

Another big difference is Moretz really IS a teen-ager (she's only 15), whereas Spacek was 26-27 at the time Carrie was filmed in 1975-76. Piper Laurie (mother, Margaret) was only about 43-44 at the time though her character seemed much older. So the remake's character age difference dynamic should be interestingly different.

[metallicorphan]

Sissy Spacek had a small and seemingly frail frame so it certainly worked(even though in the book Carrie was supposed to be a chubby girl),in a sense it also worked with Michael J Fox as Marty McFly in BTTF films,even though he was 57


I really like the sound of what Chloe Moretz says there,however the "found footage" comment underneath it fills me with dread

In fact Chloe Moretz is one of the best things about this remake/retooling ATM

I love Julianne Moore she's damn gorgeous,it will be interesting to see if she can fill Piper Laurie's shoes

[The Grue]

I certainly like Moretz (she was charming in Hugo), though I don't quite see how they're going to make her seem "homely" or even "Plain."

If we've learned anything from the 80s, it's that you can make a nerdy, plain girl hot by having her remove her glasses. So, just put some glasses on her and you're done.

[Blackjack]

Julianne Moore's confirmed as the Mom: [Note: The photo in the Deadline item is Gabriella Wilde (playing Amy Irvin's character), NOT Julianne Moore]
http://www.deadline.com/2012/05/mgm-sets-julianne-moore-and-gabriella-wilde-for-carrie-remake/

EXCLUSIVE: MGM and Screen Gems has closed a deal with Julianne Moore to play the iconic Margaret White in Carrie, the remake that is being directed by Kimberly Peirce. Now the studio has set Gabriella Wilde for the the role of Sue Snell, the role originated by Amy Irving. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa wrote the script and Kevin Misher is producing. Chloe Moretz is playing Carrie, the role originated by Sissy Spacek in the Brian DePalma-directed original.

As for Moretz, well, she's basically going through puberty (she's 15, probably 16 by the time filming's over). So I guess if they wanted sort of a thin, unshapely Moretz, they've blown it. They can however as Grue said, use glasses, bad hair styles/wigs, and clothing to make her look homely or "not hip."
=======================

If I think about junior high school (7th-8th grade, these days you'd probably have a 6th-8th "middle school") here in Va. in the late 1970s -- and generally I prefer not to -- I had a classmate who reminded some of Carrie. Her name was Lisa, she had sort of "Minnie Pearl" style thick glasses, straight blonde hair, some sort of religious zealot mother who dressed in black a lot supposedly. Truthfully, I had one, perhaps two good friends at that point, but Lisa really seemed to have none.

I have a vivid memory from our co-ed PE class of something like, maybe it was archery practice (we got to shoot bows at targets out on the soccer field for a week or two, it was a lot of fun). I remember we had to pick duo teams. I remember she knew my name and asked if I wanted to team. And being the spineless wuss I was, I turned away from her and declined. I guess I was self-absorbed in my own battles with bullies. I don't know why I cared what anybody thought. The 13-14 year old me was pretty cowardly really.

In my adulthood, especially at my newspaper job, if I ever invited one pal to lunch I made sure to check with everyone else. To a fault, I try to make sure nobody feels left out or ignored. If anyone ever asked me why, I'd remember turning away from Lisa near the archery targets in 1978 (maybe '79). She was the "Carrie" in my childhood, and it's too bad I didn't say "Sure, let's team up!" in PE class that day, and helped her feel good for a moment.  
==========

Sorry, I digress.   I was reading a Wikipedia entry on King's novel, and definitely there are some things there (including some things near the end that DePalma diverged from) this new movie can use to differentiate from DePalma's film and at least kind of give us a fresh experience.

[Harpua3]

Here's an idea. Write a fucking new good movie Hollywood!!!!

[Blackjack]

From Collider, first glimpses:
http://collider.com/carrie-remake-chloe-grace-moretz/176050/
*I don't know if the sunglasses are part of the costume, or if she just put them on because she was exiting her trailer or something.

“I’m not watching it (1976 Carrie) in preparation for the movie because we’re doing something totally different and I’m trying to bring my own take into it. I am changing everything about me—my hair, my look. I’m doing my own take on [the character]. The script is totally different from the [original]. It’s more like the book. It’s a more Black Swan version—it messes with your mind. You’ll see things, and you don’t know if you’ve seen them.”

I go back to my earlier post that there was no Internet, Facebook, texting, cellphones, home computers, anything in 1976. So just bringing all that kind of thing into the story alone should make it different, if not better per se. Nothing I've read even mentions that but assuming this isn't again set in the 1970s, I'd think it'd all play some sort of role in it.

[Blackjack]

EW has first pix of Moretz and Moore on set...

'Carrie' remake: Moretz revives a classic image and Moore has mommy issues -- EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/08/23/carrie-exclusive-first-look/

*I'm curious if they might extend the "walking home from the prom" scene. I believe the book has Carrie unleashing a bit more furor on homes and vehicles, and not just the one car with the miscreants trying to run her over. Depending on the remake's budget, they could probably portray more of that, if they want to.

[metallicorphan]

Julianne Moore well looks the part in that second picture she looks spot on,and i am glad there is still the bloody Carrie..i was half expecting Hollywood to go a safer route and have Nickelodeon gunge or something rather than the blood

[Toe]

EW has first pix of Moretz and Moore on set...

'Carrie' remake: Moretz revives a classic image and Moore has mommy issues -- EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK
http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/08/23/carrie-exclusive-first-look/

That picture of Carrie looks horrible to me. What is with the blow-up doll lips? Yeesh. Jullian Moore's picture does look pretty good though. I will be staying far far away from this one.

As I recall, King's only complaint about the Carrie film (he talks about it in his cool Danse Macabre non-fiction book about the horror genre in general) was that the blonde guy who takes Carrie to the prom (played by "The Greatest American Hero"'s William Katt) comes across as a manipulated doofus in the movie; whereas in King's book he seems to truly like Carrie, and is ultimately proud to take her to the prom. In the novel, that gives some meaning to his fate; in the movie, he's just this blonde doofus knocked unconscious by a falling bucket.

That's odd. I always felt that, at least toward the end, the movie did get across that point that the blonde guy ended up kinda liking her some. Maybe it was not as pronounced as King wanted it to be though. ~shrug~

Blackjack's digression

lol, I have a very similar experience around the same age. The girl in this case was April. She was fugly and dirt poor so wore really cheap/worn out clothes and had a general "dirty" aura. Everyone shunned her. Well, one day in PE class, we were made to square dance. We lined up, boys on one side, girls on the other, and the teacher made us pair off with the person across from you. Lo and behold, April was who I was paired with. I actually feigned a stomach ache before we even started. Since there were even numbers, she had to dance around without anyone while I acted sick, sitting on the bleachers. Years later I saw her out somewhere and it turned out that she actually grew into a nice looking young lady.

[Blackjack]

Toe, thanks for sharing that story.  I guess we all have our little moments of drama as youngsters. And we see things differently when we look back on them.

The other reason Carrie sort of stuck with me is I had my own horrors in PE. In 7th grade PE (keeping mind, you're only 12 years old when you start 7th grade), some guys started teasing me -- not in a playful manner, more, cruel -- in the locker room, basically about my scrawniness and such. I just didn't have a thick skin mentally at that point. I just started to dread the end of PE class and the walk back to the locker room. No, nobody yelled "PLUG IT UP!"  I remember at one point one classmate did yell at my tormentors to shut up and leave me alone. But, I think because I didn't either ignore it or fight back -- because I didn't stand up for myself -- he didn't stand up for me aside from that one time.

Eventually my PE teacher did step in. But realizing he couldn't do that every time, he eventually called me into his office and suggested he transfer me to a different 7th grade PE class to get me away from my tormentors. Best of all, my best friend Joey was in this other PE class (other than Orchestra & post-lunch study hall, we didn't have any other classes together that year) and this other PE teacher was a little more easy going, not even requiring showers after PE class. So with my best friend in this class, and this other PE class's students being nicer, PE was finally fun again. And 7th grade was spared me using my psychic mind control to destroy my tormentors. 

Most of my awful bullying memories were more of that verbal kind. And that seems in a lot of ways more hurtful. Somewhere here I shared the story of this big jock Jimmy in 8th grade, who saw fit to try to ram his fist through my back, while yelling an oriental racial epithet at me, once in the hallway as I went to store my viola in the band room before lunch. And I wished I had done something in response (I could've taken out my expensive rented viola and beaten him with it) but when you're short and scrawny and some 6 foot 14-year-old who looks 18 pounds you, what do you do? Another good jumping off point for a fiction short story... Or, my remembering it is another sign I need therapy. 

Getting back to the movie... well, Chloe -- at the risk of sounding like a dirty old man  -- is going through puberty and she just has pretty large, full lips. Don't hold that against her.  I'm sure they'll use makeup effects and dreary clothing to try to make her look homely initially, and then maybe for the prom they'll just let her look as she normally does.

I just got my Entertainment Weekly issue today, and the photos impress me more at their full size than as those little web site images.

[metallicorphan]

teaser trailer

[Blackjack]

Release date bumped waaaaay back, to Oct. 18, 2013:
http://collider.com/carrie-release-date/221306/#more-221306
Original release date was March 13.

[Teggy]

Release date bumped waaaaay back, to Oct. 18, 2013:
http://collider.com/carrie-release-date/221306/#more-221306
Original release date was March 13.

So either they think it will be a big Halloween blockbuster, or it's so bad that they thing people will be more likely to take a chance on it at a time when they are craving scary movies.

[Blackjack]

Release date bumped waaaaay back, to Oct. 18, 2013:
http://collider.com/carrie-release-date/221306/#more-221306
Original release date was March 13.

So either they think it will be a big Halloween blockbuster, or it's so bad that they thing people will be more likely to take a chance on it at a time when they are craving scary movies.

You read my mind.

My split personality thought was:
Conspiracy Theory: It sucks, they think it'll get meat-ground in March, so lets shove it to near Halloween to make a buck.
Techno Theory: Because it's likely a CGI FX-heavy movie (unlike DePalma's film, which relied more on "practical effects" and stunt work), esp. to portray the post Prom devastation in more widespread form like in the book, perhaps they decided they needed a few more months to work on FX work and/or reshoots.
Cynical Theory: Once the studio found out there wasn't a Saw or Paranormal Activity sequel that would suck up all the box office oxygen around Halloween 2013, they said "Who Ha!" and went for the new release date.

I guess Cynical and Conspiracy are interchangeable in this case. 

[metallicorphan]

[metallicorphan]

Trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdoVioPv0fs


Looks so-so TBH

[Covenant]

Yeah I was kinda intersted in this, but that trailer didn't do much for my hopes really.

[Blackjack]

In the trailer, I did notice that what I predicted (and I am wrong about 98% of the time  ) about the film drawing in online bullying, use of cellphones in bullying/harassment etc., to update the story a bit from the original film's mid 1970s setting does seem present in the remake.

I think my main issue -- at the risk of sounding like a dirty old man   -- remains that Mortez is just too attractive and lets say physically intimidating for her age to be playing an uncultured waif who can't defend herself against the girl-bullies and her religious zealot mother. Visually, in the trailer, imho, it just looks like she could physically beat all those baddies up.

You can put Moretz in "plain" clothing and muss her hair, but honestly she seems more appealing than the cast members that are supposed to be the "evil hotties." Ironically, Moretz is closer in real age to Carrie in the book than Spacek in 1976 (she was 28 at the time of filming), but to me Sissy Spacek was far more believable as a frail, put upon teen.

I agree with the Internet at large there have been too many horror remakes or pseudo-remakes/prequels (this, Evil Dead, Carpenter's version of The Thing, The Omen etc) in recent years that just do not bring enough fresh to the party to justify themselves. Hollywood seems creatively bankrupt in horror in terms of coming up with any fresh ideas.

And while I'm a fan of most of the horror flicks getting remade many of them (at 30-40 years old) simply don't register with younger audiences today. Likewise, it's hard to understand some of the lousy films made based off 30-40-50 year old TV shows. It's like trying to trade off some name that just doesn't mean anything to most of today's audiences.

[MonkeyFinger]

So... did anyone "call Carrie"?