Is it time enough to remake this film???
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jamiexmcl — 20 years ago(November 05, 2005 03:15 PM)
I just watched TOC on cable today, and it would be sacrelige to do a remake. It is pitch-perfect. Perfect script, perfect casting, perfect acting. It's almost 40 years old and shows its age, but who cares? A classic is a classic. And this one is so funny. Comedy is underappreciated in movie awards, but totally appreciated by the audience.
On the other hand, since H'wood likes remakes, I agree with the poster who cast Giamatti/Church. I'll bet they watched TOC before acting in Sideways. Maybe that's one of the subliminal reasons I like Sideways so much: reminded me of TOC.
Wilson & Stiller? Notta chance. I wouldn't even read the reviews, let alone shell out for a ticket. -
carloski2003 — 20 years ago(January 25, 2006 08:33 AM)
I dont think Stiller would be very good either
Walter Matthau was great to watch, in my eyes he was never comic/comedian.
He acted seriously, with bizare beliefs,
doesnt matter that his beliefs and antics are ignorant idiotic and insane
he believes they are reality and portrays them seriously.
Walter Matthau . Max Goldman
Jack Lemmon . John Gustafson
Carlos Powered By mozilla Firefox http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
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tdirtyatl — 20 years ago(August 25, 2005 01:52 PM)
-AllieF0X on Sat Mar 12 2005 15:52:48
I think it could be a pretty good vehicle for Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller. At least Ben Stiller as Felix.When I read that I almost threw up.
The ONLY two actors who could pull off a remake are Nathan Lane and
Matthew Broderick. -
ecarle — 20 years ago(September 01, 2005 11:15 AM)
Lane and Broderick are doing this on Broadway soon, are they not?
Its funny how age on screen has changed over the years. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau were middle-aged men who looked it in 1968. They both played in "The Odd Couple" divorced or divoricing men with grown children who had been in their marriages for quite a few years. It's hard to picture Owen Wilson, Ben Affleck, or even Matthew Broderick (who is in his forties but looks 22) playing the veterans of long marriages with children.
With re: Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. I can see either of those two handlng the neurotic neat freak Felix Unger, but Oscar is much more of a slovenly "male animal," more in the range of Bill Murray or Vince Vaughn, it seems to me.
Lemmon and Matthau were legendary. It'll be hard to fill their shoes here. -
bonshui — 20 years ago(September 12, 2005 08:15 PM)
You don't seem to mind that Jack Lemmon replaced Art Carney in the transition from stage to film. If great characters in great scripts can be played by more than one stage actor (Matthau was eventually replaced by Jack Klugman on Broadway), what's so precious about cinema - it's all theatre.
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TheATrain — 20 years ago(September 20, 2005 08:31 AM)
Matthau originally wanted to play Felix in the play and even begged Neil Simon for the part. Simon said no, he wanted Matthau to play Oscar.
They tried remaking the TV series with Demond Wilson and Ron Glass to give the show an African-American flavor, even using the same scripts. It wasn't the same. -
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vegwriter — 20 years ago(September 30, 2005 03:18 PM)
Oh my godwhoever said Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller, that's an idea I've had for about a year! In fact, I just posted it as an off-topic aside on another IMDB message board (about remaking "It Could Happen To You"). I hope Owen and Ben read our comments and do a remake of Odd Couple. They would be fabulous!!!
Judy
http://sketchgrrl.blogspot.com
http://rawstyle.blogspot.com
www.RawFoodsNewsMagazine.com -
vegwriter — 20 years ago(September 30, 2005 06:54 PM)
How funny. I just agreed with Allie in a post earlier today that Owen and Ben would be great in a remake of The Odd Couple. Now I found a headline and better yeta celeb quote in today's paper in which one of the Broadway Odd Couple guys mentions Owen & Ben in this context!!!
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2005-09-29-odd-couple_x.htm?POE=LIFISVA
Judy
http://rawstyle.blogspot.com
http://sketchgrrl.blogspot.com
www.RawFoodsNewsMagazine.com -
rossrobinson — 20 years ago(October 03, 2005 05:31 AM)
how about a prequel? this one based when Oscar Met Felix, what do you think?
www.geocities.com/rosspaulhewittrobinson1987/enterme.html -
ecarle — 20 years ago(October 05, 2005 05:44 PM)
A prequel is an interesting idea, and would allow for many younger actors to be considered.
A couple of problems I see:- "The Odd Couple" is about a specific crisis period during which two male friends are thrown together to live pretty much as "man and wife" (nothing gay about it, but Felix sure acts like the henpecking wife.) Felix and Oscar in the early years may not have such an interesting crisis. Note: Neil Simon based the play on his own experiences when his divorced brother moved in with him for awhile.
- "The Odd Couple" is famous as a Neil Simon play with some of his best dialogue. It would be important for Simon to write the new movie, too. On the other hand, I can't remember did Simon write "The Odd Couple II," which was pretty terrible given how old Matthau looked by then?
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graemeomeara — 20 years ago(January 02, 2006 10:22 AM)
Steve Martin and Bill Murray, now theres an idea. Just imagine Martin as fussy Felix and Murray as the slovenly slob Mr. Oscar Madison :"I told you a hundred and fifty six times, I cannot stand little notes on my pillow"
Yeah! -
telly-productions — 20 years ago(October 24, 2005 09:55 AM)
Id not curse it with Ben Stiller but I've been casting the film myself and actually puttering with the original play script
Felix Ungar..JAMES MARSTERS (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel)
Oscar Madison
Speed..JERRY STILLER (Seinfeld, King of Queens)
Murray.?????????????
Vinnie.JORGE GARCIA (Lost, Curb Your Enthusiasm)
Roy.KRISTIN BELL (Veronica Mars, Reefer Madness)
Cecily.?????????????
Gwendolyn.?????????????
My script has Oscar, Felix and MOST of their buddies as 20-30 somethings, with Speed being a 70-something neighbor.
Former newleywed Felix Ungar's life is destroyed when his wife leaves him. Despondent, depressed, and fanatical, Felix decides to kill himself. After numerous failed suicide attempts (none of which are suitable to him), he moves in with his best friend from high school, Oscar Madison. His presence in Oscar's life proves just as disruptive as it did in his married life, and soon these best friends are at each others necks. The final straw comes when Oscar drags Felix to his favorite strip club hoping to patch the growing rift between them Felix ends up bringing Gwen and Cecily, the two strippers they've hired for the evening, to tears with his life story.
The "cardboard" poker buddies are fleshed out a bit more in my script, and we see them outside of the poker game. I wanted an older Speed to bring some perspective to the lot. A female player (I'm guessing Roy) brings a touch of diversity to the lot. Unlike the 1960s, families are staritng to form when people are in their 30s, not their 40s. Oscar is technically a deadbeat dad, never paying child support to the mother of his baby (they never married).
Lemme know what you all think of this, as this is a work-in-progress.
Telly -
AppleJax — 20 years ago(November 10, 2005 09:04 PM)
I have no objection for remakes of crappy films. This film was not crappy, thus a remake isn't needed. Why the hell do people think remakes are needed for many of the classic films?
Owen Wilson & Ben Stiller??? Give me a break!!
"Keep Ted Turner and his goddamned Crayolas away from my movie."Welles