A remake of a Kurosawa film… you’re already on dangerous ground. But when it’s Mike Nichols directing from a David Mamet script, I’m at least willing to listen. The film in question is High & Low, the story of a business man whose child is kidnapped and held for ransom. The original starred the inimitable Toshiro Mifune, and it’s a really great film – and I think it’s underrated since people tend to focus on Kurosawa’s samurai cinema.
Now Chris Rock is writing the remake, according to AOL Black Voices. What the hell? How did Chris Rock get into the remake racket so heavily? And how did somebody decide that Chris Rock was the dude to write a police procedural?
For those playing along at home, Rock’s remakes have been:
Down to Earth – a remake of the Warren Beatty film Heaven Can Wait
I Think I Love My Wife – a remake of Eric Fucking Rohmer’s Chloe in the Afternoon
Those are the ones he wrote. He’s starred in:
Death at a Funeral – a remake of Death at a Funeral, a British film from two years ago
The Longest Yard
Dr. Dolittle
Sgt. Bilko (which I guess is really an adaptation, but close enough).
And he’s optioned The First Star, a 2009 French film, as well!
I don’t know, this whole thing feels like a comedy bit. I feel like I’m in a weird alternate universe where Sarah Silverman is about to write a remake of Au Hasard Balthazar.