DB7

Thornton & Heder in Scoundrels Remake

Source: Variety August 3, 2005


The Weinstein Co.'s Dimension Films has set Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) to star in School for Scoundrels, a remake of the 1960 British comedy, reports Variety. Todd Phillips, who wrote the script with Scot Armstrong, will direct.

Phillips and Armstrong, who collaborated on Starsky & Hutch, Old School and Road Trip, have been working for several years to find a contemporary context for the comedy.

In the new version, Heder plays a down-on-his-luck meter reader who enrolls in a confidence-building class so he can win the love of his dream girl. The class turns out to be something quite different once it becomes clear to the young man that his professor (Thornton) has set his sights on the same woman.

The comedy will shoot in New York and L.A. in October for release next spring.

alan gowdy

Fortunately these inferior remakes cannot detract from the excellence of the source versions. It seems from this thread that the plot will be significantly altered anyway, presumably to make it acceptable to a target 16-24 year-old audience on whom the sublety and wit of the original would be wasted.

"Don't forget... one of petrol, two of meths"

Jim

'Release next Spring' - shouldn't that read 'Escapes next Spring'

Good morning boys.

Aenima

The original is one of my all time favourites. Why do they even bother trying to remake something that was of such high quality. What film needs are new ideas NOT remakes.

Can anyone think of any good remakes? I'm struggling

Cheers,
A

I'll 'av 'arf

Freddy

The remakes of Four Feathers and 39 Steps I've always enjoyed

Freddy

"What I owe you Colonel Lawrence, is beyond evaluation."

aaron

Cant they leave anything alone?

Perhaps they feel, that they can improve upon Alistair Sim, Ian Carmichael, Terry Thomas, Dennis Price etc etc

'He who is not one up...Is one down'

Harbottle

The only good thing about remakes is that they make the original look even better..... Ladykillers anyone? Plus you can simply avoid them

alan gowdy

I'd avoid them like the plague.

"Don't forget... one of petrol, two of meths"

Merton Park

One of my all time favourites, Ian Carmichael, Alistair Sim, Terry Thomas all of whom are wonderful in it, a true British comedy classic.

I cannot believe it has been remade in the US, with the same title. Just watched the trailer on IMDB, unfortunately without sound, speakers on the blink, and saw a scene involving a tennis match which was one of the funniest bits in the original.

Is nothing sacred?

Freddy

According to IMDb the working title was 'The Better Man'. would have been better if they had kept the that one. Having seen the trailer it looks awful, didn't resemble the original at all.

One to miss

Freddy

Cuffy

It's a real shame the original has had to endure the indignity of a remake. It's one of my favourites to watch on a Saturday morning when I wake up far too early and there is nothing but trash being broadcast on the pay channels. I bought the 'School For Scoundrels'/'The Green Man' double DVD a couple of years back - good value I thought.

alan gowdy

I have a great liking for the British crime caper classic, League Of Gentlemen but any search for information on it on the web gets swamped with hits for the TV comedy show of the same name. Excellent though this is (was?) it can be a bit frustrating.

Steve Crook

I have the same trouble with searches for "Michael Powell". I keep finding articles about Colin Powell's son, or the owner of the bookstore in Portland, OR, or the long jumper, or the Glamorgan cricketer, or the Warwickshire cricketer, or one of the many other famous people, or people in the news called "Michael Powell".

When you're searching for The League Of Gentlemen, try including something else in the search like "League Of Gentlemen" Hawkins or "League Of Gentlemen" Attenborough. That should improve your successful hit rate. The format of the search varies depending on where you're looking. Those ones will work on Google. If you're searching on eBay you can do a fancier search like "League Of Gentlemen" (Hawkins,Attenborough)

It's usually worth checking advanced search facilities.

Steve

Cuffy

A classic - The League of Gentlemen is also in my collection. I waited a long time to get it after first seeing it in the early 80's, and yet, it never gets as much of my attention as it deserves nowadays.

I'm maybe getting prematurely old in saying this, but the TV series of the same name was just too disturbing for my tastes.

Getting back to the point though - I agree with you and Steve. Oh yeah, it can be a real pain to get accurate info. Jigsaw is a particular favourite of mine - I'm much wiser in the ways of search engines nowadays, but I had fun with that one when I first started out!!

Merton Park

I have now seen the remake, if one can call it that. absolutely awful, TT and AS would turn in their graves. A complete waste of time. Do not bother under any circumstances. A travesty of a classic comedy.