This Movie Has Been Modified From its Original Version

I was asked the oddest question the other day, when discussing my work as a filmmaker; someone actually asked me if I were to remake a film, which one would it be.

I was speechless; I really had no clue what to say. Because it’s not really something I had ever given thought to. Subsequently, it prompted me to give thought to the question. The answer: I don’t think I’d ever do a remake. In fact, "remake" is an old term; the word of the week in Hollywood is now "reinterpretation". This is what studios seem to be doing all over the place; from Superman Returns to the JJ Abrams Star Trek prequel/re-imaging of the franchise. Now don’t get me wrong, in some cases these reinterpretations/re-imaginings/remakes actually work. In the case of Batman Begins it gave new life to a franchise of films that spiraled into sheer lunacy. Tim Burton had made two excellent films with Batman and Batman Returns, then Joel Shumacher took over and things went downhill very quickly. And after the awful Batman & Robin the franchise was put to rest. With Batman Begins, they decided to just start everything all over again and go a very different path, which worked. Hey, what can I say? Sometimes movies studios get things right. The same thing went for Casino Royale many 007 fans were very, very jaded about the direction the films were going. The last few Pierce Brosnan films felt like giant commercials with action scenes intercut between all the product placement. You could almost picture Barbara Broccoli sending hundreds of emails out to every large corporation in the world selling product placement for the new Bond movie, then trying to talk a screenwriter into scripting a story around all the commercials. It was so painful for a lot of fans to watch scene upon scene upon scene of logos, brands etc. What I love about the Brosnan era Bond was that the man himself, Pierce Brosnan was actually complaining about the lack of quality story wise. I guess somebody listened, because Casino Royale did everything right, it had a great story, classic elements of filmmaking, good action, no abundance of psychotic gadgets (no invisible car—thank you movie gods) or product placement. And to boot, they re-started the franchise from scratch.

It’s a trend that can make money and give new credit to a franchise that has taken advantage of fans. When it’s a franchise that will spew many sequels (hopefully of good quality) you can get away with the re-imaginings and re-inventions and starting over from scratch.

What is slightly more frightening is the one off remakes, the most sacrilegious of which would be the 1998 remake of Psycho by Gus Van Sant. This one really didn’t sit well with me, I can accept remakes of popular older movies, but a Hitchcock masterpiece… um, no. Hitchcock’s Psycho is a film that changed the way we see movies—don’t touch it. What was really ridiculous about Van Sant’s remake was that he chose to remake it shot for shot from Hitchcock’s. I am not a hardcore cinema purist, but most people will agree there is line that should not be crossed. True classics are one of them. Another upsetting remake was Jonathan Demme’s 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate. In 1974 Francois Truffaut was invited by Warner Bros. to remake Casablanca, he outright refused and stated: “You want to remake Casablanca? Why not hire someone to puts arms on Venus De Milo.”

The Hollywood recently reporter announced that a remake of yet another Hitchcock classic, The Birds is planned to be released in 2009 (rumored to be in charge of this is the one, the only--gasp--Michael Bay--god help us all).

As a filmmaker (who is far from making classic cinema) I would be upset if someone remade something I did, or retold I story I’ve already told. If I like a movie very much, I wouldn’t pay homage to it by remaking it, I would promote it and discuss why its valuable to the cinema world. Hitchcock made one remake in his life: The Man Who Knew Too Much in 1956 which was a remake of his own movie of the same tile from 1934. The sad truth is that somebody will always think remaking classic films is a good idea, especially in this new era of the big studios, much like in the 1980s when studios took it upon themselves to colorize black and white classics, that was a real mess—that got a strong push from Ted Turner who felt people of the 1980s had no patience to watch movies in black and white (he was also responsible for Pan & Scan videos) so they went and colorized a number of classics including: The Most Dangerous Game, It’s a Wonderful Life, Casablanca, Psycho (which Hitchcock chose to make in black and white), but all that ended when American Film Technologies (funded by Ted Turner) announced they had plans to colorize Citizen Kane of which the rights were in dispute after Orson Welles died (he owned all exclusive rights to the film until his death), but there was a huge outcry with plans to colorize the classic film, because on his death bed Welles told his friends: “Don’t let Ted touch my movie with his little crayons.”

On Directing

Jean Renoir once said: "A director only makes one movie in his life. Then he breaks it down and makes it again." Though my three films: The Meatball Story, Truant Cafe and Ashita seem vastly different, they explore the one theme in life I see as a constant. That human beings, no matter how different we think we are, no matter how we think, in essence we are all they same. We all smile, we are hurt and when we are each presented with the dark we'd all rather not face it alone.

I am fascinated with human ability to face the worst of life alone and survive. I am fascinated with the secret pain and fear that people hide. And this is reflected in my writing, actually its also reflected when I write. I usually write when I am at my worst, or when a situation is at its worst and I want to talk about it. My first film, The Meatball Story, I wrote over the course of three afternoons in a downtown Montreal food court. I had no money and used my last few dollars to buy a pad and a pack of pencils. Sitting there, angry at the world, sad because I was broke and didn't know where I was going in life, I wrote The Meatball Story, a story about greed and selfishness. Truant Cafe was written in two days in a cafe in downtown Montreal. I had been living in Toronto for a year, but I had come off a terrible relationship with a terrible girl and was very angry at how modern society sees dating and relationships, so I sat in the cafe and wrote Truant Cafe a story about a relationship gone wrong and about getting even. Ashita came at a happy time in my life, I had been married for almost a year to my lovely wife Izumi. We got married in Japan and I fell in love with the country and the culture. I knew I wanted to work on a Japanese project. I thought it would be a wonderful experiment to try. I even expressed the idea to Kyoko, my mother in law, who is a theatrical producer, director and actor in Kyushu, Japan. I told her I would like to write a play for her--this is how the seed was planted in my head. For a while I tried writing a few stories that didn't pan out, I even tried adapting The Meatball Story into Japanese by changing it to The Gyoza Story, but that didn't work either. I felt terrible... I had never been this happy before, so I could not write. So I put my iPod on and went for a walk and I listened to music and some memories came back to me and I was inspired and Ashita was soon thereafter born. My inspiration was not my pain or anger, it was the pain in anger people who live in a big city see everyday.

What does all of this have to do with Renoir's quote? Well, I'm getting to that. As a director of these three films I also had a different approach to these topics of the human condition. I made The Meatball Story with the intention of proving to world that I could do it, that a feature film could be made in little time and for next to no money. Of course, when I was making it, I was positive it was going to win at least three Oscars and affect the cinema world in a way much like Citizen Kane or at least Clerks did. My second kick at the movie making can was Truant Cafe and my approach here was very personal, I wanted to public humiliate someone and I was going to do it with this movie. I was very angry through the whole process of writing, shooting and editing the movie. That's really not a good way to be in any process, especially making a movie. Again, it was going to win three Oscars and change the world. With Ashita, my approach is very different, because I see it as an experiment I can have fun making it. I can play and try things, because after all a white Canadian making a Japanese language film in the city of Toronto with and entirely Japanese cast can only be described as an experiment.

The themes to all three films are on the most basic level, the same, however I am re-imagining them in a new way with each project. As for the Oscars, well with Ashita I want to see the completed experiment more than anything. I am curious and slightly weary of how Japanese audiences will react.

I doubt my fascination with humanity will ever cease. I will be a father in a few months, this is an experience and joy I am looking forward to. I am sure that I will be able to see life in a beautiful and new way through my child's eyes. Who knows maybe one day I will make a kids movie. How cool would that be?