Martin Campbell is through with Universal’s remake of the Alfred Hitchcock classic The Birds. The Casino Royale director has long been attached to the sacrilegious ideas, but he has signed to make The Green Lantern for Warner Bros and is moving on to bigger and better things.
The good folks at Pajiba have the scoop from the inside, who says Dennis Iliades (Last House on the Left, another remake) is interested in becoming the replacement.
Campbell’s departure was confirmed shortly after by horror site Bloody-Disgusting, but their source denies Iliades’ involvement. Nothing seems to be signed there while the studio tweaks the script one more time (this makes at least 3 or 4). I took a peek at an early version of the screenplay and it read like a flock had dive bombed a keyboard.
Naomi Watts has also been attached for years, but with Campbell peacing out she may come to her senses too. The most recent interview I can find with her mentioning the remake was in August when she said the remake “will happen.” I don’t want to call Miss Watts a liar, but…
In April 2009 while discussing Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Michael Bay told reporters at ShoWest he “had nothing to do” with the remake. His production company, Platinum Dunes, has been attached to the project for at least two years. Then again, Bay swore all over town he wasn’t making Transformers 3 his next film, and look where we are now. That giant-headed idiot is in pre-production on another giant robot toy sequel.
There have also been rumors that the remake, if and when it ever happens, will be in 3-D. No surprise there, especially for a redo in the horror genre. Everything seems to be headed that direction and if it makes a few more people say, “Oh all right, I’ll check it out in 3D” then Universal is happy. It’ll be a while though.
