It’s a Wonderful (Day to Take Your) Life?
Once again, Hollywood has delivered what no one asked for. This time, it’s a sequel to the heartwarming holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life.
The 1946 Frank Capra masterpiece, about an angel-in-training convincing
a suicidal Jimmy Stewart that every life matters, could only be
described as “pro-life.”
The remake will deliver a much different message. Variety reports:
The original film ended by persuading George Bailey not to commit suicide. How will this version end? It’s a Wonderful Day to Take Your Life??
And just what kind of an “angel” tells people the world would be better off if they were dead?
With massive unemployment, ObamaCare-fueled insurance premium hikes,
and strained budgets threatening to make Christmas a lean time for
families across the country, the last thing Americans need is another
reason to commit suicide.
Admitted, this is a preliminary description, and the film might have some heartwarming ending. Theoretically, Bailey could see the errors of his ways and reform himself, Ebeneezer Scrooge-style. But we already have A Christmas Carol. So, why make this film?
“This project allows us the opportunity to play a historical role in the next-generation of one of the greatest movies of all time,” the film’s financier, Allen J. Schwalb, told Entertainment Weekly. “Our new film will continue the classic story of George Bailey and his family for an entirely new generation of moviegoers.”
No, reruns of the original film continue its story for a new generation. An unwanted, twisted sequel contradicts and ruins that story.
Looking over Schwalb’s track record as a film financier, a pattern emerges: He has brought to life some unforgettable and moving original films like Rain Man, The Right Stuff, The Killing Fields,[1] Heartbreak Ridge, and The Color Purple – even underappreciated or quirky films like Irreconcilable Differences (a poignant film showing the evils of adultery, materialism, and divorce, starring a young Drew Barrymore) and Better Off Dead. (“I was just wondering how you’d feel if I took out Beth?”)
But he has a weakness: he finances the worst sequels in a series. With a few exceptions (notably Sudden Impact), his are inevitably the must-skip stinkers of the franchise: Poltergeist III, Superman III and IV, Rocky V, and the third installment of George Burns’ Oh God series, Oh God! You Devil!
[2]
George Bailey’s suicide would be the Star Wars Holiday Special of remakes.
Allen, buddy, let me use an example you might remember. In Irreconcilable Differences, Ryan O’Neal ruins his career by making Atlanta, a musical version of Gone with the Wind.[3] It bombs because, y’know, people don’t want an ironic spin on classics.
Sometimes life imitates art.
Instead of tampering with perfection, why not make a movie about an intelligent but emotionally detached doctor with a hoarding complex who gradually devolves from helping inner-city drug addicts to pumping drugs into black neighborhoods and serially murdering black babies? You can call it The Kermit Gosnell Story.
I’d love to pitch it to you. Let’s do lunch.
Cross-posted on TheRightsWriter.com.
ENDNOTES:
1. An act of thoughtcrime for which alone he should be thanked.
2. Of course, a few years ago, Hollywood considered remaking Oh God! with Ellen DeGeneres playing God. But that’s another story….
3. Sharon Stone dropping a wounded soldier as she bursts into song is the most memorable scene in the film.
Source: LifeSite News
The remake will deliver a much different message. Variety reports:
Karolyn Grimes, who played George Bailey’s daughter Zuzu in the original, will return for the sequel as an angel who shows Bailey’s unlikable grandson (also named George Bailey) how much better off the world would have been had he never been born.This less-than-heartwarming update is set to be released during the holidays in 2015.
The original film ended by persuading George Bailey not to commit suicide. How will this version end? It’s a Wonderful Day to Take Your Life??
And just what kind of an “angel” tells people the world would be better off if they were dead?
Admitted, this is a preliminary description, and the film might have some heartwarming ending. Theoretically, Bailey could see the errors of his ways and reform himself, Ebeneezer Scrooge-style. But we already have A Christmas Carol. So, why make this film?
“This project allows us the opportunity to play a historical role in the next-generation of one of the greatest movies of all time,” the film’s financier, Allen J. Schwalb, told Entertainment Weekly. “Our new film will continue the classic story of George Bailey and his family for an entirely new generation of moviegoers.”
No, reruns of the original film continue its story for a new generation. An unwanted, twisted sequel contradicts and ruins that story.
Looking over Schwalb’s track record as a film financier, a pattern emerges: He has brought to life some unforgettable and moving original films like Rain Man, The Right Stuff, The Killing Fields,[1] Heartbreak Ridge, and The Color Purple – even underappreciated or quirky films like Irreconcilable Differences (a poignant film showing the evils of adultery, materialism, and divorce, starring a young Drew Barrymore) and Better Off Dead. (“I was just wondering how you’d feel if I took out Beth?”)
But he has a weakness: he finances the worst sequels in a series. With a few exceptions (notably Sudden Impact), his are inevitably the must-skip stinkers of the franchise: Poltergeist III, Superman III and IV, Rocky V, and the third installment of George Burns’ Oh God series, Oh God! You Devil!
[2]
George Bailey’s suicide would be the Star Wars Holiday Special of remakes.
Allen, buddy, let me use an example you might remember. In Irreconcilable Differences, Ryan O’Neal ruins his career by making Atlanta, a musical version of Gone with the Wind.[3] It bombs because, y’know, people don’t want an ironic spin on classics.
Sometimes life imitates art.
Instead of tampering with perfection, why not make a movie about an intelligent but emotionally detached doctor with a hoarding complex who gradually devolves from helping inner-city drug addicts to pumping drugs into black neighborhoods and serially murdering black babies? You can call it The Kermit Gosnell Story.
I’d love to pitch it to you. Let’s do lunch.
Cross-posted on TheRightsWriter.com.
ENDNOTES:
1. An act of thoughtcrime for which alone he should be thanked.
2. Of course, a few years ago, Hollywood considered remaking Oh God! with Ellen DeGeneres playing God. But that’s another story….
3. Sharon Stone dropping a wounded soldier as she bursts into song is the most memorable scene in the film.
Source: LifeSite News
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