Deadline is reporting that MGM and Screen Gems are moving forward with a remake of Carrie. It is being written by Robert Aguirre-Sacasa who has recently been credited as re-writing the infamous Broadway disasterpiece, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark.
This is weird news on a lot of levels. First off, Carrie does have a Broadway pedigree, having been adapted as a musical in the 80’s. By all accounts it was lousy. So where is the logic in bringing a Broadway scribe to write an updated film version? Secondly, this new take is being called a more faithful adaptation of King’s book. I’ve read the book, and I have to say that DePalma’s ’76 classic was pretty darn faithful. Sure, there were some minor changes, but it’s not like the film went wildly off script. Does this mean Carrie will be fat and pimply? One can only hope. I’d like to read the casting notices for that one. Lastly, they already tried a modern remake in 2002. It was made for TV, it stunk, and it starred Angela Bettis.
It seems to me that if you want to remake a Stephen King property, there are plenty of other novels in his bibliography that could use a cinematic spit-shine. It comes to mind. As does Pet Sematary. I do believe those titles have been mentioned in the past few years as being in development, but nothing has come of them. Let’s hope nothing comes of this Carrie remake as well. DePalma’s version holds up great and there’s no way this new version will deliver in terms of hot ’70’s camel-toe, so there’s really no need for it to exist.