Jack Black and Michel Gondry Remake "King Kong," "Robocop," and More '80s Classics

In his upcoming movie, "Be Kind Rewind," Jack Black gets to remake all of our '80s favorites. He plays a video store clerk who accidentally erases all the tapes, and has to replace all the videos by filming them himself.

"We did a lot of movies," said Black. "We did 'When We Were Kings,' the documentary about Muhammad Ali. I play Muhammad Ali, strangely. We did 'Superman.' Actually, I shouldn't say that, we had to change the name to something else. Incredible Flying Man I think we changed it to. We did 'Ghostbusters.' That was a masterpiece. We did 'Robocop,' we did 'Driving Miss Daisy,' just to name a few. There were tons of movies that we did."




Director Michel Gondry brought his "Eternal Sunshine"/"Science of Sleep" sensibility to the film, ordering Black not to research the films within the film. "We were under strict orders not to watch any of the movies again, not to re-watch anything again and if we hadn't seen it, don't see it. Just do what you think it is based on the commercials you had seen of the movie because he wanted it to look that way; because there isn't any time in the movie for us to do any research. So he wanted to keep that consistent as actors not to research any of the movies we were remaking."

They even remake one of Black's own movies. "We did a little 'King Kong,' too. It was cool. And it was pretty low-budg, the movie but he makes up for it with incredible tricks and stuff, and depth perception, and camera tricks. Like, let's say I'm King Kong, and that over there is Roz, but you're the camera, and if I do that and hold her like that, it looks like I?m a giant. It's hard to explain. In the mind of Michel Gondry it makes sense."



Unfortunately, there was one key '80s movie that the crew could not remake. "We did not do 'Back to the Future.' We did not get permission."

"Be Kind Rewind" opens in 2007.

Comments

mojodaddy

joe fish

Haha this sounds like an awesome idea. I'll definitely go see this one.

Nov 28 - 05:10 AM

Mr. Glass

First Last

I can't wait!

Nov 28 - 05:50 AM

MC.

mc mc

Could be very fun.

Nov 28 - 06:46 AM

frogleg

Josh Quarles

Now THIS is a remake that sounds tolerable.
:)

Nov 28 - 06:58 AM

cgcbooks

Robert Kimberlin

Sounds kind of dumb to me.

Nov 28 - 07:11 AM

arpeggio191

Carl Myers

of course it's dumb. harold and kumar, for example, was a really dumb movie, but still came out beautifully! it's going to rule!

Nov 28 - 08:35 AM

Mikeal420

David Goldman

[b]sounds promising[/b]
reminds me of other 80's skit films like UHF and "Amazon Women on the Moon"

They should bring in Wierd Al (I dont care what anyone says, he was funny once a long time ago)

Nov 28 - 07:35 AM

TheIceGhost

Harry Myland

Weird Al is pretty 'hot' right now, it'd be sweet if he was making a comeback...

Sounds funny, JB=awesome

Oh, and I just got back from Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. I was the only one in the theater (at 12:10 before my class) and it was glorious.

"I'M GONNA TAKE YOUR EYEBALLS, AND RIP EM OUT. THEN I'M GONNA CUT OFF YOUR BALLS! THEN I'M GONNA PUT YOUR, UH, EYES IN YOUR BALLSACK AND YOUR BALLS IN YOUR EYE SOCKETS!!"

Nov 28 - 12:23 PM

killermonkey8822

Joey Chid

weird al is still halerious.....just listen to his new album.....i like it anyway and i've been listening to weird al for awhile.......but watever it's your own opinion.......i haven't seen UHF but for some reason i have the soundtrack so i should watch it.........anyway i think this could be a pretty good idea.......i loved eternal sunshine of the spotless mind still one of my favourite movies

Nov 28 - 08:22 PM

Circe Prankster

Prentice Clark

[b]UHF[/b]
I was a devoted Weird Al fan back in the day, and I thought his movie UHF was inspired silliness. I haven't seen it in years, but there's a great joke I still remember: a blind guy with dark glasses and a cane is sitting on a park bench next to another guy. The blind guy has a Rubik's Cube in his hands. He turns it once and holds it up to the other guy, asking "Is this it?" The other guy says, "No." Then the blind guy turns it one more time and says again, "Is this it?" The other guy answers, "No." And so on . . . the camera just pans across this scene, it's a total throwaway, but I thought it was hilarious. I recommend you watch the movie if you get a chance, it's fun.

Dec 4 - 11:43 AM

Bear45

Eli Thomas

Me and my brothers went to go watch "The Pick of Destiny" on opening night. I was the only one that liked it... I have since been proclaimed a "Jack Black whore".
So, obviously, I'm all wet over the hilarity that I expect to insue in this film. 2007 is gonna be a great year.

Nov 28 - 08:20 AM

Kid_Ikarus

Josh Thornton

YESSSSSSSS!

Nov 28 - 09:16 AM

Kid_Ikarus

Josh Thornton

YESSSSSSSS!

Nov 28 - 09:17 AM

robsdeli

Rob Schwartz

I know I'm all for it. And don't worry Bear45, I too am a Jack Black whore. Or at least a really big fan of the D. I dunno. Either way the guy is freakin hilarious.

Nov 28 - 09:18 AM

toniokruger

adi nugroho

[b]dunno[/b]
sounds like a good idea for an MTV Movie Awards skit. Or a short film. But not a feature length film, unless they come up with a strong narrative and motivation.

Nov 28 - 10:26 AM

Reel 2/Dialogue 2

Jar Jar Binks

I agree, the premise is a bit flimsy by itself, but perhaps a neat Gondrian twist is in store. I hope he doesn't just remake classic 80s films but also the more esoteric fare, like [i]Beat Street[/i] and [i]Heavy Metal[/i]. It'd also be nice if this was a satire about Hollywood remakes in general.

If Jack is [b]TRON[/b] in this, I'm gonna die cracking up.

Dec 2 - 06:30 AM

TomasSPAGHetti

Ben Tomassetti

I think with Gondry at the helms and Black leading it could be a great comedy. In my eyes, Jack Black doesn't dissapoint. It's Eternal Sunshine meets School of Rock (underrated movie).

Nov 28 - 11:23 AM

~*Admiral Snowstorm*~

Dominique Amsterdam

King Kong, huh? So Jack Black's taking a movie that was remade once, and then remade again with him in it, and remaking it? Wow, King Kong may have died at the end of all three movies, but it seems like no one ever lets him truly die.

Nov 28 - 01:10 PM

Crenshaw

Bryan Winter

I love this idea so much I could lick it. But I won't.

Nov 28 - 01:30 PM

bribios

brian wilson

I'm a little sick of jack black at this point (thank you very much nacho libre), but i think this actually sounds like a decent movie. I just hope they do "Better off Dead" or "Stand by Me".

Nov 28 - 03:33 PM

will_butler

Will Butler

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of the best films I've seen in years. That's good! The Science of Sleep was, perhaps, the worst film I've ever seen. I walked out after the yiffing. That's bad! So, in short, I'll see this if it comes with a free Frogurt.

Nov 28 - 04:09 PM

brave.sir.rob

Brave Sir Rob

Niiiiice.... um, can I have the doll now?

Nov 29 - 12:56 PM

TheAnswerMVP2001

Snipes .

I like it!

Nov 28 - 10:09 PM

pota1967

David Jones

All the tapes gets erased? hmmm, sounds a little 90s to me. I will rent a DVD instead.
This movie sounds a few years too late--and a little dumb

Nov 29 - 06:52 AM

jeremyf1977

jeremy fein

this could work

Nov 29 - 10:33 AM

Madman

Dave Gendron

sounds good to me. Gondry is the shit!!

Nov 30 - 05:56 PM

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