ROTTEN TOMATOES: Naomi Watts Joins Bay's Birds Flock

Naomi Watts Joins Bay's Birds Flock

Watts steps in for Tippi Hedren; Campbell in talks to direct.

by Jeff Giles | October 19, 2007

Finally, something truly terrifying has come out of Hollywood. Make sure you're sitting down, and don't say we didn't warn you -- this news is not for the faint of heart.

That long-threatened remake of Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds is on its way, and Michael Bay is still involved.

Okay, okay -- don't jump off those ledges just yet. Bay will be in the producer's chair for the new Birds; as Variety reports, his Platinum Dunes shingle will be working with Mandalay Pictures and Universal on a "reimagining" of the Daphne du Maurier short story that inspired Hitchcock's 1963 classic.

The updated Birds isn't being rushed out pre-strike, but it's already got a pair of names attached -- Naomi Watts has agreed to star, and Martin Campbell is in talks to direct. Variety's report names Stiles White and Juliet Snowden as having written a "script that is still being developed" and says that "new scribes may be brought aboard."

Source: Variety

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(1-20 of 58 posts) | Reply

Seihaku writes:
on Oct 19 2007 06:10 AM

Naomi Watts? Martin Campbell? Worthless remake or not, I'd be there.

(Reply to this)

Evimeleth writes:
on Oct 19 2007 06:16 AM

You had me at Naomi Watts. Though that was near the end of the article.

(Reply to this)

LFMartins writes:
on Oct 19 2007 06:45 AM

Any day now,we will have a "Gone with the wind" Remake with Lindsay Lohan and Hugh Jackman.

(Reply to this)

Plinko writes:
on Oct 19 2007 06:58 AM

It's a shame that Bay isn't directing.

(Reply to this)

h-town24 writes:
on Oct 19 2007 07:38 AM

I think Bay could have done some crazy scenes with the birds! But, I'm loving Campbell and Watts!

(Reply to this)

steeminwbeamen writes:
on Oct 19 2007 07:42 AM

In reply to this comment (#1202672)
but birds don't explode.

(Reply to this)

Vega-Star writes:
on Oct 19 2007 07:45 AM

the gone with the wind remake will also feature Halle Berry in the re-imagined role of Mammy. Hattie McDaniel would be so pleased.

(Reply to this)

Rockslide writes:
on Oct 19 2007 07:46 AM

In the Michael Bay version, the birds are all New York pigeons rigged with small plutonium bombs all set to explode at the stroke of midnight on New Year's eve. One plucky cop- Bruce Willis, and a hot ornithologist- Denise Richards, have until then to find and kill all 2008 birds before they explode, dousing the city in their mutated avian bird flu virus.

(Reply to this)

WiseGuy writes:
on Oct 19 2007 07:48 AM

I was fearing the worse when I began to read the article. The thought of Michael Bay tackling Hitchcock in either a directing or producing position freightened me (he's responsible for producing the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Amityville Horror remakes). However, my opinion swiftly changed when I read that Martin Campbell would be directing. Talk about a lifesaving choice.

(Reply to this)

arpeggio191 writes:
on Oct 19 2007 08:18 AM

In reply to this comment (#1202675)
very true... i don't think michael bay knows how to do anything without blowing half the set up. Good thing he isn't directing. At least it's not John Woo and he makes every bird a stupid dove. Oh lord, i saw Mission Impossible II the other day on TV. Those stupid doves made me want to shoot the tv. If Woo did it, the film would be 2335 hours long because every seen with a bird in it would be shot in super slow motion.

(Reply to this)

reavus4983 writes:
on Oct 19 2007 09:17 AM

I automatically thought: why is Michael Bay even involved in an Alfred Hitchockian (?) movie? That's like Sylvester Stallone taking Orson Welles's part in Citizen Kane.

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tomlet writes:
on Oct 19 2007 09:30 AM

Anything that Bay touches turns to crap. Why remake a film that has nothing wrong with it? Bay specializes in action film tripe. The Birds isn't an action film. It's a suspense film. Let's add some car chases, some graphic violence, have some of those chasing cars explode, make sure bullets make sparks when they hit wood and drywall, and then we can have a film that's better than an Alfred Hitchcock classic. Wait, I almost forgot, we have to add a insipid love story that nobody gives a crap about to pad the film's running time.

(Reply to this)

thereign writes:
on Oct 19 2007 09:33 AM

Folks, there's still plenty to fear. Remember that it doesn't matter who's directing: unless your name is Spielberg, Tarantino or Lucas, a producer wields more power than a director any day of the week. Producers can FIRE directors or severely change their editing cut of the film. If Bay chooses, he can have Campbell reshoot stuff so that the birds are flying around with Uzis and killing civilians WHILE they blow up!

Besides, it's remaking Hitchcock. There's NO WAY to do it properly, so it's going to suck no matter how you slice it. :-(

(Reply to this)

jasperoosterveld writes:
on Oct 19 2007 09:40 AM

How original...another remake. Jesus!

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Vortex&Vertigo writes:
on Oct 19 2007 09:49 AM

you guys know of course that the ending will change. Hitchcock made a tense ending. But didnot release the tension. He just left the movie at that. If Todays audiences (teens)looked at the original ending they would say that the ending sucked.

(Reply to this)

twinsfan2715 writes:
on Oct 19 2007 09:58 AM

In reply to this comment (#1202682)
haha that'd be awesome. but you're forgetting that its Bay so the birds would have to be native to california so it can take place in Los Angeles

(Reply to this)

Lord_Kingsley writes:
on Oct 19 2007 10:19 AM

Michael Bay? Prepare for exploding suicide bird bombers.

Crap onna crutch, did Gus Van Sant's "Psycho" teach us nothing?

(Reply to this)

xxWICKEDxx writes:
on Oct 19 2007 10:58 AM

i actually think it would be pretty cool. And the Birds is one of my fav movies. I just think it would be a neat idea.

(Reply to this)

dracus writes:
on Oct 19 2007 11:18 AM

I knew that Michael E-Bays ego would be somehow involved in this. Only that fool would think that he was worthy enough to remake this Hitchcock classic.

(Reply to this)

crudebob writes:
on Oct 19 2007 11:24 AM

Rmember that scene from Pearl Harbour where we follow the bomb from the Jap plane to the deck of the Arizona? I can just see Micahel Bay replicating that scene in the birds where we follow a piece of turd falling out of a seagull's butt all the way down to Naomi Watts face. Now that would be entertaining!

(Reply to this)

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