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Home » Blogs » Karman Kregloe's blog » Although Nicole has already married a couple of millionaires

Although Nicole has already married a couple of millionaires

by
Karman Kregloe

Nicole Kidman is reportedly set to remake How to Marry a Millionaire via her production company (Blossom Films) as a "potential starring vehicle." Not much else has been said about the project, though according to The Hollywood Reporter it will be "a complete overhaul of the original story" and the screenplay will be written by Sacha Gervasi (The Terminal and the film adaptation of the tv show Dallas).

I'm just hoping that the "overhaul" doesn't include changing the names of the main characters, Loco Dempsey, Pola Debevoise, and Schatze Page. They sound like canine competitors in Best in Show!

The original was made in 1953 and starred Betty Grable, Lauren Bacall and Marilyn Monroe as three eligible bachelorettes who set out to, well, marry millionaires but stumble upon true love along the way. Monroe, whose character was saddled with the debilitating problem of needing to wear glasses, stole the show and I'm guessing that Kidman will save that role for herself. Grable and Bacall, however, were equally brilliant, and the film featured a hilarious department store fashion show (topped only by the one in The Women -- a 1939 classic that a variety of A-list starlets have been trying to get remade for years).

Good luck to Kidman and Blossom Films in trying to top the tagline of the original: "The Most Glamorous Entertainment Of Your Lifetime in CinemaScope. You See It Without Glasses!"

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    • Submitted by
    Karman Kregloe
    on April 27, 2007 - 3:08pm.
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    Washuai's picture

    end rant

    Submitted by
    Washuai (21 posts)
    on April 27, 2007 - 2:49pm.

    I guess  Nicole didn't pay enough homage, in Moulin Rouge, for example. 

     I'm trying to decide what is worse.  "Remaking a movie & not admitting they are remaking a classic"  or "officially remaking a movie".  Either way, it's obviously going to be it's own thing and comparisons would probably be drawn. 

     I think I like the first kind of unoriginality better.  That way, at least while I can go, oh this is very familiar, I don't have to be slapped in the face with people who thought they could "make it better", "bring it to a new generation" not smart enough to appreciate the origial, etc. 

    That and remake is like a gimick.  I end up going to see the damn thing, because I love the original and then because I have to compare as a remake, I can only extremely rarely agree with the hubris of the film maker that thought they could "do it better."

     Ah well, I'll be interested to see who else they cast.  This particular movie is more of a vehicle for other things, so whether it is fun and has substance will depend on who else is in it and how they overhaul it.

     

    This day and age, though, they ought to have named it, How to marry a Billionaire.

    browne's picture

    Betty Grable is blah, and

    Submitted by
    browne (275 posts)
    on April 27, 2007 - 4:11pm.
    Betty Grable is blah, and Lauren Bacall never made much of an impression on me after her early black and white movies with Humphrey Bogart (fabulous as she was in those.. but it's like the fizz somehow went out of her when she moved to colour)... but it's hard to go wrong with Marilyn Monroe.
    Hollywood Marie's picture

    Lauren Bacall!

    Submitted by
    Hollywood Marie (189 posts)
    on April 27, 2007 - 4:46pm.
    Are you joking?  Lauren Bacall was GORGEOUS in this movie.  Yes, everyone loves Marilyn Monroe, and I'm partial to blondes myself, but Lauren Bacall has that voice and that attitude...ugh, to die for.  Man, I am so gay.
    scully01082's picture

    don't do it!

    Submitted by
    scully01082 (19 posts)
    on April 27, 2007 - 7:09pm.

    I love Nicole Kidman. Don't get me wrong, I really do. But could HTMAM get any more perfect than it already is? The movie is brilliant - and Lauren Bacall is wonderful.

    If there is going to be an overhaul of the screenplay - will it even be the same movie? If you update the script and bring it to modern times, it's going to look like every other movie where women try to marry rich. It's an overdone concept nowadays, even with Kidman in it.

     I say, leave it alone. Everyone should see that film - it's great :) You can't beat Lauren Bacall, Betty Grable, and Marilyn Monroe.

    smokin''s picture

    May they NEVER remake "The

    Submitted by
    smokin' (810 posts)
    on April 28, 2007 - 11:01pm.
    May they NEVER remake "The Women." There aren't enough A-list starlettes in Hollywood with the talent to do it. Maybe 2 or 3.     --Talk Derby to me.
    deja's picture

    Overhaul?

    Submitted by
    deja (280 posts)
    on April 29, 2007 - 11:23pm.

    A complete overhaul of the original story? When will Hollywood learn that just because something can be done doesn't mean it should be done.  Why must they keep attempting to remake classics instead of creating original material? Is that an admission that they're so creatively bankrupt that they can't come up with anything fresh or interesting anymore? 

    Actresses like Bacall and Monroe have depth, texture, intensity, yet they keep trying to recreate them using wan, tinny, tepid modern day substitutes.  Nicole Kidman had some of that spirited grit and robust quality to her early on in her career, but it has faded as she tries harder and harder to fit the new Hollywood mold: blonde, boney, botoxed and bloodless. 

    Didn't she learn anything from her own Bewitched dud?  Or Sabrina. Or Guess Who. Or the Honeymooners.  Or any of the dozen other remakes that have floundered and died in the past few years.  


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