Posted on 12/04/2009 5:46:07 PM PST by NormsRevenge
LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Oscar-winning US director Steven Spielberg has dropped plans to remake the Hollywood classic "Harvey" after failing to find the right star to take on the lead role made famous by James Stewart.
Initially, Spielberg had wanted Tom Hanks to take on the role of the gentle, mild-mannered Elwood P. Dowd, who just happens to say his best friend is an invisible giant rabbit.
But the industry daily Variety said Friday that Hanks was not that enthusiastic about the prospect of stepping into the legendary Stewart's footsteps.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Where is Jim Carrey? tsk tsk .. talk about a role made for him.
maybe Spielberg could re-make Gunga Din or do a sequel to ET or Close Encounters instead.
Al Gore with some script changes.
If Hollywood is that talented, come up with something new!
I have an idea; researching it for years. Don't have the talent to write a script.
Why do these fools want to fool with the classics?
Not enough mugging in it for Carrey’s inestimable talent.
I think remake of that movie would sucks Norm
If they want do with special effects
It’s the lack of special effects that made it, well, special.
A wise move. He knows his limitations.
Yeah I talking about today audiences I saw Harvey on TCM other day my five year old nephew ask me where is special effect this sucks
I think to safe to say if they going do Harvey remake you got have special effect get Transformer movie going crowd that sad part about Today Hollywood and probably today audience
Then don’t remake it. The whole charm of the movie is we don’t see the rabbit.
Well, I’m glad that Hanks realizes his limitations. He could never fill Jimmy Stewart’s shoes.
If Hollywood is that talented, come up with something new!
I agree. Most of the DVds and Blu-rays I watch are of classic films. Harvey is over-rated anyway, and would never go over with today's Michael Bay fans.
Two words:
Joe Pesci.
Not a great movie, but a great watch. Stewart in his most eccentric role. I don’t love it, but I like it.
There's not an actor today that could hold a candle to any of the greats like Stewart.
I thought he already did a movie that Stewart had done before. (You’ve Got Mail, rehash of Little Shop Around the Corner)
I mean The Shop Around the Corner
Which shows that he is in fact smarter than a box of rocks. That is Jimmy Stewart's role and cannot be replayed by anyone.
But we do, at the very end, see his silhouette through the office door.
Ah, but not for the whole movie!
Nobody would be able to surpass Jimmy Stewart. Before remaking Harvey, they should remake Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, and Birth of a Nation.
Also Triumph of the Will, but that needs to be an adaptation rather than a remake--Triumph of Hope and Change, to fit the era of Obama.
Stewart plays to empty space for practially the whole of it, in fact he insisted that the scenes were wide enough to encompass what would have been the rabbit. The original idea was to shoot him alone.
‘If Hollywood is that talented, come up with something new...’
You answer your own question.
Spielberg should keep his filthy hands off that movie.
Got research for an historical movie. Freepers would love it. It's about citizenship, bravery, and it's true.
And played UP to a nine-foot rabbit - wasn’t he 6’4’ or something himself? I love that movie.
“In this world, you must be oh so clever or oh so pleasant. I’ve tried clever. I recommend pleasant.”
Yes he was. A tall man. And one we should all admire.
The line actually was, Oh so SMART or oh so clever. I actually remembered it as being, Oh so SERIOUS, or oh so clever. I have it on DVD, so I’ll have to check it out.
Another poster said Harvey was 9 feet tall. He was actually 6’2”, not including his Ears of course. The fact that Stewart’s Character looked up when talking to Harvey was just for effect.
You never actually saw Harvey in the movie. An advertising poster showed the shadow of Harvey through the opaque window of an office door, but it was not in the Movie.
I just watched The Wizard of Oz with my grandson last week. It was probably my 20th viewing over the years. There is no way to improve upon that movie.
It's a good story well told, the writing was clever, the music, lyrics, and singing were top notch, the acting superb, cinematography was beautiful, the directing and editing were tight (not a dull or unnecessary moment), the sets and wardrobes, holy cow!
Those monkeys still scare me.
Last wk I saw a stage version of Harvey in nearby Santa Paula CA,and the actor did a surprisingly good job as Dowd. It’s a family memory that my parents saw Stewart in the role on Broadway in the late 1940’s. Thank goodness his performance was filmed so we could enjoy it years later.
Having said that, it’s wonderful to hear that the remake (ugh) is cancelled.
Harvey isn't on the American Film Institute's list of the top 100 American movies of all time, and perhaps doesn't deserve to be, but it does some very good parts.
Here you go. It’s ‘smart or pleasant’. I love Youtube.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzOIhLJ1C-Y&NR=1
I stand corrected.
Harvey was only 6’ tall according to Mr. Dowd.
Still one of my favorite Movies.
Actually I was agreeing with you.
Harvey is amusing and Stewart is as always pleasant, but it's not really a classic. More of a quirky film and obscure cultural reference.
I've noticed that the writing in older films was often very sly and witty. Modern day movie makers treat their audience as if they were writing for young children. Just as they leave nothing to the imagination with gratuitous sex, violence and nudity, they leave nothing for the mind to catch and delight in. It's all so rude and crude.
I’m thinking Tim Allen. Although the subtle work of Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura would put him high on the list.
A few thoughts about Harvey:
First, I’m not sure Harvey could be made today, even with an appropriate actor. Aside from the fact that, as others have pointed out, there’s no way they’d make it as the simple stage play it was, the movie was set in a time when there was an expectation of sanity and conformity. Back then, a person claiming to have an invisible 6’ 8 1/2” rabbit for a friend might send people running from the house. Today, they’d shrug.
The character Veta was almost as interesting as Elwood. Both of them saw the rabbit. Veta believed in Harvey, but wanted him to go away. When I talk to people about the movie, many miss that point. IIRC, Stewart said Harvey was 6’ 8 1/2”, as he was 6’ 4” and had to look up to him. Harvey was a pooka, which is a character from Irish folklore. A pooka was a shape shifter who appeared to people.
What about Christopher Walken? I think he could do it. It has that weird persona already down.
“Joe Pesci.”
“Do I amuse you?” Yeah, that’d work. Everybody else would see the rabbit even if they didn’t really see the rabbit.
Don’t forget the painting.
Pesci shouldn’t have retired.
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