April 11, 2010

'Private Benjamin' becomes the latest project to be headed for a remake...

...but with an interesting choice for the lead. Here's the story in The Hollywood Reporter:

“Private Benjamin” is being called up to duty again.

New Line is remaking the seminal 1980 comedy, reconfiguring it for the new century as a starring vehicle for Anna Faris.

Amy Talkington is in discussions to write the new take, to be produced by Mark Gordon.

“Benjamin” starred Goldie Hawn in a star-making turn as a spoiled woman who joins the Army after her husband dies during sex on their wedding night. One of the top-grossing movies of that year, “Benjamin” was hailed for tackling women’s issues and earned three Oscar noms — for Hawn, supporting actress Eileen Brennan and original screenplay (Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer and Harvey Miller).

The title joins “Vacation” and “Police Academy” as the latest titles from the Warner Bros. library that New Line is remaking.

The new take will set the story in contemporary times with modern wars as the backdrop. Insiders say the studio doesn’t want to poke fun at the men and women in the service or take political potshots, but rather focus on the empowerment elements and build on the fish-out-of-water comedy.

Michelle Weiss is overseeing for the studio.

Talkington, repped by UTA and the Arlook Group, penned a remake of 1980s classic “Valley Girl,” which is set up at MGM. The scribe has shown she can pen a female voice with Fox’s “Queen of the Rodeo,” about teenage girls competing for the title of rodeo queen, and “Devil in the Junior League,” a Universal comedy centering on a spurned wife who is forced to transform a vulgar woman into a role model for a women’s organization.

Faris, one of the few comediennes who can open a movie, is set to star in her latest comedy, “What’s Your Number?” which is to begin shooting this spring. She’s repped by Gersh and Raw Talent Management.

-I could see her making this work decently well...thoughts?

1 comment:

  1. Anna Faris reminds me a little of Goldie Hawn, so I could see this potentially working to a small degree...

    ReplyDelete