Those who remake a beloved horror film of yesteryear — what’s more, a beloved title that still holds up while avoiding all encumbrances of nostalgia — are in something of a bind when it comes to public appeals. To help assuage those irritated questions of why they’d remake yet another genre staple, people such as you and I might fall prey to fine casting. Case in point: after securing Rosemarie DeWitt (Promised Land, Your Sister’s Sister), the MGM-backed Poltergeist remake has set its sights on none other than Sam Rockwell, an actor whose inimitable charms even the hardest-hearted of hard-hearted cynics would struggle to fully resist. [TheWrap]
His deal is, in some sense, only a blip on the map, for the in-demand actor still needs to look over multiple prospects that are vying for attention — but, to this title’s credit, he likes the sound of “a lead role in a studio movie produced by horror maestro Sam Raimi.” (Director Gil Kenan and screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire await such a mention in the next trade report.) The role, anyway, is something you already know: a father whose daughter is taken by spirits, he must cope with the unfathomable terror and take some action against an unbelievable set of circumstances, etc. The only existing difference we’ve been made privy to is a surname change, the family name going from Freeman to Bowen. Take that for what you will.
Meanwhile, in Deadline, it’s reported that Miles Teller — riding off great buzz of his Sundance-starrer, The Spectacular Now — will soon commence filming on a project with the beguiling presmise of “Full Metal Jacket at Juilliard.” Titled Whiplash, it’s an expansion of writer-director Damien Chazelle’s Sundance short centered on a young drummer whose sense of purpose is lost when put against the domineering personality of a jazz orchestra teacher (J.K. Simmons), all while striving “to become the core skins pounder of the top jazz orchestra in the country.” Goodbye, my sweetheart; hello, Juilliard.
Bold Films will produce alongside Jason Reitman and Jason Blum, with cameras rolling next month.
Does Rockwell change any attitudes toward a new Poltergeist? What do you make of Teller and Simmons going head-to-head?