Although One Day took its concept and, by some accounts, perverted that into an unholy mess, Universal have gone back to the source and decided to remake Same Time, Next Year. The 1978 original — itself an adaptation of screenwriter Bernard Slade‘s original play — stars Ellen Burstyn and Alan Alda as two married folks who have an impromptu affair (most are, it seems) and, despite the relatively calm state of their own marriages, decide to do it again once a year. As time goes on, their interactions become deeper, more personal, and reflect their changing attitudes toward the surrounding world; it’s very much a story of its own time.

Scott Rudin and Walter Mirisch now want to reshape this into an updated feature and, for this task, they look toward Jay and Mark Duplass. While the two pairs have been negotiating over scripting duties as of late, it’s expected those will, to no one’s surprise, eventually seep over into directing as well. No word on when they might get down to business but, thankfully for Universal, no signs point toward the brothers having any real projects on their schedule — the closest thing is a scribing job with Todd Phillips. Barring Mark‘s ever-busy acting career ballooning even further, the writer-director job is a real possibility. [Deadline]

More important? This is a remake that isn’t such a terrible idea. Okay, Lone Scherfig kind of did it — and, furthermore, to the dissatisfaction of many — but the simple concept opens up countless avenues for comedy, drama, questionable morals, and how the characters abuse and misuse those; you can take this many which ways. I’m not crazy about all of the Duplass brothers‘ past work, admittedly, but some of their best material pivots on the kind of deft character work that could make this shine. All they need to fully convince yours truly is some professional cinematography.

Do you see any purpose in a Same Time, Next Year remake, particularly with the Duplass brothers helming?