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7 Movies You Didn't Know Were Remakes

By Anna Dimond (Subscribe to Anna Dimond's posts), Posted Dec 10th 2010 3:00PM
Filed under: Features, New Releases, Holiday Movies


This Friday, after years of deal-making, rumor-mongering and star-swapping, 'The Tourist' finally lands with all its European allure in American theaters. By the time Johnny Depp was cast as the lovelorn tourist Frank and Angelina Jolie was cast as the mysterious and stunning Elise, photographers were ready to pounce on the set, releasing photos of Jolie's on-and-off-set moves, which titillated film geeks and fans alike.

Amid all the hype about Jolie and Depp's new movie, however, what most movie-goers may have overlooked is that 'The Tourist' isn't new at all; the original is a 2005 film called 'Anthony Zimmer.' Directed and written by Jerome Salle, it stars Sophie Marceau as the female lead, Chiara, who becomes ensnared in a mysterious plot, and Yvan Attal as the mysterious (and surgically altered) Francois Taillandier. In the new version, by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck ('The Lives of Others'), the gender roles are reversed, so that Elise does the hunting and the trapping, while Frank is the unwitting pawn.

Cinematic purists need not worry that the new version will be a total departure from its original: Salle co-wrote the new version of 'The Tourist,' along with by Salle, along with von Donnersmarck and Julian Fellowes, which may infuse it with some of the original's sensibility. Still, while the film may be among the most surprising of this year's second-hand remake releases, it's part of a long-established, American tradition of believing that anything good is worth doing again -- at least once. As Depp and Jolie arrive with their remade tale of international intrigue, Moviefone took a look back at some of the company that their movie keeps in the canon of surprise remakes.
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How Tony Stark's Suit in 'Iron Man 2' Was Made

By Anna Dimond (Subscribe to Anna Dimond's posts), Posted Sep 28th 2010 6:00PM
Filed under: Features, Behind the Scenes
It's no secret that 'Iron Man 2' arrived to eye-popping box-office sales. It is, after all, the second-biggest release of 2010 so far. Audiences at up the second installment of the popular Marvel comic book's big-screen adaptation for a few reasons: It had killer action sequences, an entertaining new villain in Whiplash (played by Mickey Rourke), and of course another winning performance from Robert Downey Jr.

Oh, yeah, and because Iron Man's sweet metallic suit totally ruled.

That red-and-gold bad boy is on full display today with 'Iron Man 2' (finally) arriving on DVD. In honor of the release, Moviefone gets the behind-the-scenes scoop on Tony Stark's armor from effects guru Shane Mahan, who supervised the suit design for both the first and second movies. Mahan, who began his career with movies like 'The Terminator' (1984) and 'Jurassic Park' (1993), reveals some of the secrets behind the 'Iron Man' suits and also how comic-book adaptations have changed over the course of his career.
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Famous Movie Locations: Houseboat From 'Sleepless in Seattle' (Seattle, WA)

By Anna Dimond (Subscribe to Anna Dimond's posts), Posted Sep 7th 2010 12:00PM
Filed under: On the Scene

Long before online dating had become de rigueur in America, Nora Ephron boosted romantic morale nationwide with her 1993 film, 'Sleepless In Seattle.' Tom Hanks stars as Sam Baldwin, a widower whose young son, Jonah (Ross Malinger), calls a radio talk show to try to find a new woman for his dad, and convinces Sam to open up on air about how much he misses his late wife. Annie Reed (Meg Ryan), a reporter in Baltimore, hears the interview and is instantly smitten: On a whim after watching the 1957 love-fest 'An Affair to Remember,' she writes to Sam and suggests that, like Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr's classic characters, they meet atop the Empire State Building.

Amid Sam's sudden flood of letters from admirers and would-be wives, it's Annie's missive that catches Jonah's attention. Despite Sam's misgivings, Jonah is determined to unite them, and even sneaks off to New York to find Annie. Of course, the rendez-vous doesn't exactly go as planned -- the only person Jonah finds is a frazzled Sam, who chased after him -- but Jonah's lost backpack saves the day in a twist that allows our geographically challenged pair to finally meet, face to face.
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Famous Movie Locations: Amity Island from 'Jaws' (Martha's Vineyard, MA)

By Anna Dimond (Subscribe to Anna Dimond's posts), Posted Aug 25th 2010 2:00PM
Filed under: On the Scene

35 years ago, taking a casual swim at the beach -- not to mention the entire future of Hollywood -- changed forever, thanks to a single movie: 'Jaws.' Steven Spielberg's shark thriller is considered the first blockbuster, and paved the way for modern movie distribution, which hinges on wide releases. When it opened in the summer 1975, 'Jaws' blew its competition out of the water, landing at the top spot at the box office. The film also garnered critical acclaim, winning three Oscars and a Golden Globe, among a hefty list of other nominations and awards.

Based on Peter Benchley's novel of the same name, 'Jaws' centers on a fictional resort town called Amity Island that's suddenly terrorized at the height of tourist season by a flesh-eating Great White shark. As the body counts starts to stack up, local police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) tries to keep swimmers out of the water, but faces opposition from the local town council. Brody finally takes matters into his own hands, and enlists marine biologist Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) and weathered shark hunter Sam Quint (Robert Shaw) to send the shark to the great big ocean in the sky.
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Jennifer Aniston, Perennial Girl Next Door: Where Does She Go From Here?

By Anna Dimond (Subscribe to Anna Dimond's posts), Posted Aug 20th 2010 2:00PM
Filed under: Unscripted, Hot Topic
In 'The Switch,' Jennifer Aniston returns to the big screen as Kassie Larson, a woman who decides to have a baby through artificial insemination, courtesy of a muscly alpha-male named Roland (Patrick Wilson).

Seven years later, she learns that her neurotic bestie, Wally Mars (Jason Bateman), switched the goods, and is actually the father of her son. When she finds out that Wally "hijacked" her pregnancy (as he calls it) and, unsurprisingly, that he's in love with her, she's forced to consider how to proceed and which man (hunky blond vs. hypochondriac) to choose.

While 'The Switch' offers a comedic sensibility with an unusual premise, Aniston's character is a woman we've seen on the big screen before -- typically played by Aniston herself. Kassie is the perfect girl next door: She's got a great job but isn't a corporate titan; she's pretty but not overtly sexy; she's independent, but deep down wants a relationship; she's strong and opinionated, but fundamentally nurturing. In short, Kassie is appealing, safe and unthreatening.
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Famous Movie Locations: Ocean Park Pier from 'Dogtown and Z-Boys' (Venice, Calif.)

By Anna Dimond (Subscribe to Anna Dimond's posts), Posted Aug 16th 2010 12:00PM
Filed under: On the Scene

The Ocean Park Pier in Venice, Calif., was the site of a cultural revolution in the 1970s: A surfing and skateboarding renaissance that was captured in Stacy Peralta's 2001 documentary 'Dogtown and Z-Boys.' At the heart of the scene was skate icon Skip Engblom, who with his business partner Craig Stecyk launched a surfboard company called Zephyr. Engblom's eponymous shop soon became a hub of activity for local kids who lived to skate and surf (aka the Z-Boys). But forget the millennial-style money, sponsorships and prestige that surf rats often pursue today: At the time, surfing "wasn't the thing you did to build your self-esteem in society," Peralta explained.

Not only was surfing a fringe activity, but the pier and its surrounding area was a veritable ghetto of crime, junkies and working-class families. Once a major attraction (it was called the Coney Island of the West n the early 1900s), by the early 1970s Venice's heyday as a thriving tourist destination had seemingly come to an end. Starting a decade prior, the local piers had begun to shut down and fall into disrepair. Little by little, the swath of beach-side turf between Santa Monica and Venice, known as Dogtown, became a no-man's land of urban detritus, run-down buildings and, at the water's edge, the broken-down Ocean Park Pier. As Engblom explains, "[Dogtown] was the last great seaside slum. ... It was dirty, it was filthy. It was paradise."
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Should Jennifer Aniston Join the 'Arrested Development' Movie?

By Anna Dimond (Subscribe to Anna Dimond's posts), Posted Aug 9th 2010 11:00AM
Filed under: Movie News
Is Jennifer Aniston joining the Bluths? In a new interview with MTV, the coif-tastic A-lister said that she would be up for a role in the upcoming movie adaptation of 'Arrested Development.'

When asked if she would be interested in appearing in the film, Aniston said, "I love it. I actually think I might have asked [Jason Bateman] ... if that was possible. Anything to work with Jason."

Bateman starred in 'Arrested Development' during its run on Fox from 2003 to 2006. Despite critical acclaim and a loyal fan base, the show's ratings never took off -- leaving its devotees to clamor for a film version since it went off the air. The series was shot in a mockumentary style, and featured the antics of the outrageous and once-wealthy Bluth family, featuring Bateman starred as Michael Bluth and Michael Cera as his son, George-Michael Bluth.
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