Straw Dogs

[GreenScar]

I'm a huge fan of James Woods. Anything he's in has me interested to say the least.

We’ve known the main names in Rod Lurie’s remake of Sam Peckinpah’s shattering film Straw Dogs. James Marsden, Kate Bosworth and Alexander Skarsgard are toplining the film, which is in production in Louisiana right now. But yesterday Lurie mentioned two more names on Facebook: James Woods and Dominic Purcell. (Who needs the trades when directors can throw out their own casting news?) Does the presence of a great actor like James Woods change your mind about this odd remake?

It certainly raises a bit of interest for me, though we don’t know what roles Woods and Purcell have. Lurie’s status said only “Beginning stunt rehearsals today with James Woods and Dominic Purcell.” That suggests that both are taking place in the siege on Marsden and Bosworth’s home that will be the film’s latter section. For that matter, we don’t know how extensively Lurie has re-written the story, which was originally scripted by Peckinpah and David Goodman, based on the novel The Siege of Trencher’s Farm by Gordon Williams.

Peckinpah’s film told the story of David Sumner (Dustin Hoffman), a withdrawn mathematician, who moves with his young wife Amy (Susan George) to her childhood village of Cornwall. Trouble ensues when Amy flirts with the locals, one of whom violently rapes her. After other trouble, a group of local men besiege the Sumner home. The new version will differ significantly in several ways. Variety provided the following synopsis:

Casting the central character as a screenwriter rather than a mathematician could imply serious differences, though both could be seen as geeky/intellectual, reclusive, potentially elitist characters. But the deeper nature of the character is more important. Peckinpah’s original version is one of the more widely misread films out there; the director considered Dustin Hoffman’s character, ostensibly the hero, to be in reality the film’s antagonist. He’s a guy whose repressed humanity causes the explosion of violence that is the film’s climax; without his inability to directly engage the men intimidating him as the story begins, most of the film’s events would not take place. Peckinpah’s film was a brutal meditation on violence that has been mistaken for an endorsement of same. Will Lurie’s film be along similar lines, or does it have totally different concerns?

[dallywhitty]

The original film is a masterpiece, in my opinion. A strong, multi-layered story with compelling characters. One of my top ten favourites. I don't like the changes they've made to the story in this upcoming remake and it'll probably miss the rough, gritty tone of the 1971 version.

[detective392]

2 new pics have been released.





http://www.dreadcentral.com/news/441...and-rhys-coiro

[KubrickFan]

So this will probably have the "meek guy is terrorized by the townsfolk" played absolutely straight as a revenge flick, filled with hillbillies? No thanks. I can understand that some remakes can bring something different to the table, but Straw Dogs is amazing as it is. Even if they'd use the same screenplay it would be less than Peckinpah's masterpiece.

[detective392]

Trailer premiering Friday

The trailer will be premiering this Friday at Yahoo.

http://movies.yahoo.com/

[Mandalorian]

I attended the first ever screening of this yesterday. It's not very good. The original is probably much better. Although for legal reasons, I should stress that it probably was a rough cut.

[detective392]

Trailer is up.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810105888/video

[Mandalorian]

Nevermind the rough cut stuff. I pretty much saw the finished film.

[Moviefan1203]

Originally Posted by detective392

Trailer is up.

http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1810105888/video

It looks better than I expected. Marsden is always reliable and Skarsgard has all the potential to be a big star in the future. But that trailer gave away way too much of the climax.

[Tcan21]

Originally Posted by Moviefan1203

It looks better than I expected. Marsden is always reliable and Skarsgard has all the potential to be a big star in the future. But that trailer gave away way too much of the climax.

+1, the original is one of my favorites, this looks good, but time will tell. Im sure it wont come close to the original, but I will do my best not make the comparison and review on its own merits.

[KrugStillo]

Judging by the trailer it looks like they removed the david Warner character from the film but kept everything else pretty similar. Although without David Warner's character what could possibly be the point of the seige other than just another typical controlling psycho that gets what he wants. Hopefully they didn't take the life out of the story.

[profholt82]

Death to remakes.

[Foggy]

Originally Posted by Holmes

I know, I know, "Remake! Ugh! Where's mah pitchfork, ma?!," but Rod Lurie has made a good, relevant-feeling version of Straw Dogs.

And the David Warner character--i.e., more or less, the village idiot--is in the film, played by Dominic Purcell of Prison Break fame.

My review: http://www.worldofkj.com/article.php?i=433

Did they show the 8 min trailer for The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, or was that press only?

[growler]

Love the original, was not expecting to like the remake as much.

I absolutely HATED the remake.

The acting was very good for the most part for all the leads. It was the changes to the story that I hated.

[Show spoiler]The character of the wife was drastically changed. The rape scene was changed so it is not controversial. The timing of the death of the cop was changed. Not sure why they changed the script to remake it unless they hoped to avoid some of the 1970s criticism. More politically correct? In the original I thought the obvious mismatch between the married couple & the betrayal by the vacuous, empty headed wife was very important. This version has nothing of interest for me. It ruins the movie. I think I'll track down the book to see if either is closer to the original story.

[Lacit170]

damn...not much activity related to this movie huh....guess most people had the same feelings towards it that i did....

the movie just felt kind of flat to me...the whole reasoning for them breaking in and

[Show spoiler]killing the cop were just WAY over the top, it didnt make any sense....he kills a cop, they all are destroying this house to get to a guy that was seen with his niece? they didnt even know that she was dead at that point....why didnt they have a scene where they showed the girl dead AND THEN go out for revenge??

also, the rape scene and the ending im a bit confused...

[Show spoiler]she didnt seem to be struggling all that much with her previous lover...and seems toi almost enjoy it towards the end....then she is taken by the other guy and is screaming and trying to get away while being raped....and she seems sad that the guy dies at the end...just felt awkward