Given that Hollywood has been strip-mining the 1980’s for remake opportunities, we should have expected a rehash of Romancing The Stone long ago. We’ve been hearing about this project since as far back as 2008, but Moviehole confirms that the project is still alive, with Katherine Heigl still a possibility for the lead.
A “trusted source” confirms that producer Emma Watts is looking for a new-ish director to helm the “fresh, exciting take” on Robert Zemeckis‘s original 1984 hit. Written by Diane Thomas, (a waitress discovered by producer/star Michael Douglas, and who tragically died in a car accident in 1985) Romancing The Stone follows shy and lonely romance novelist Joan Wilder (Kathleen Turner) as she is summoned to Colombia after her sister is kidnapped, meets the rugged adventurer Jack Colton (Michael Douglas, who has rarely been as loose and funny) and in a plot right out of one her books, the two follow a treasure map to find a giant diamond. Danny DeVito had a memorable supporting role as the bungling criminal on their tail.
That film has not dated nearly as badly as so many other 80’s pop-culture touchstones,
but since no one under twenty probably even knows it exists, Fox knows a cash-grab when it sees one. Besides Heigl as Joan (who can’t match the tough-and-sexy vibe of Kathleen Turner in her prime), word is that John Carter and Battleship star Taylor Kitsch is on the studio’s list for Michael Douglas’s role, along with the far-more-appropriate Gerard Butler. As far as I’m concerned, they should just bite the bullet and cast Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, since they’re the only two mega-watt stars who could handle the roles. (Since studios are slashing huge-budget projects left and right these days, this is just wishful thinking.)
The original film is still a superior romantic-comedy/action-adventure hybrid, and proved so popular that it spawned a by-the-number sequel, Jewel of the Nile. A third film was announced, to be called The Crimson Eagle, which Douglas reportedly turned down a role in Jonathan Mostow‘s “it’s not bad but it’s not Das Boot” submarine flick U-571 to reprise the role of Colton for. That happened in 1997, and the project faded away.
Now it’s back, with a list of bland, relatively inexpensive stars to speculate on. The sputtering misfire of Conan the Barbarian might give studio execs second thoughts about this incessant remake mania – but probably not. I’m indifferent to a Romancing The Stone reboot, but if they can somehow capture the original sense of fun and mischief, it may prove a promising franchise.
Do you want to see a Romancing The Stone remake? Who do you see in the leads?