"Ceremonial."
Admit it - deep down, you knew this day would come. According to Deadline, Weird Science producer Joel Silver is producing... a new Weird Science film:
Universal Pictures and Silver Pictures will remake Weird Science, the 1985 ultimate nerd wish fulfillment comedy that was written and directed by John Hughes. The film will be produced by Joel Silver, who made the original with Hughes at Universal. Michael Bacall will write the script. He scripted the sleeper hit Project X for Silver Pictures and wrote the script for 21 Jump Street, another 80s-centric property that became a hit for Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill.
.... This film will attempt to carve out its own identity by being redrawn as an edgier comedy in line with 21 Jump Street and The Hangover, which were R-rated; the studio says the rating for Weird Science is not certain at this nascent stage.
.... This film will attempt to carve out its own identity by being redrawn as an edgier comedy in line with 21 Jump Street and The Hangover, which were R-rated; the studio says the rating for Weird Science is not certain at this nascent stage.
To throw out some more thoughts...
Good Signs:
- The 21 Jump Street movie was a ton of fun, and treated the friendship between the male leads pretty seriously. This is pretty key to the WS concept as we know it.
- Said movie also acknowledged that source show's existence and even in-narrative continuity in hilarious and irreverent fashion. I hope this remake also gives a clear shout-out to the original, maybe even throwing in a cameo or two.
- In addition to some raunch raunch potential, an R-rating should open up more dramatic and artistically deeper possibilities than those of the original movie and show.
- Not-so-good sign: Project X got pretty tepid reviews, and was widely viewed as being pretty crass and cruel in its humor. I'm all for a really randy Weird Science, but not a mean-spirited one.
Other thoughts:
- I'm up for following an entirely new duo/group of boys, but they've obviously got to keep the name Lisa. And the Oingo Boingo song! (Though I'm nor really looking forward to the inevitable Linkin Park-style cover...)
- Speaking of which, a British Lisa or gtho. Gemma Arterton and Hayley Atwell spring to mind, though a relative unknown a la Kelly LeBrock would be entirely acceptable also.
- This film can and should also rectify the original's inexplicable abscence of Thomas Dolby's classic "She Blinded Me with Science".
... Finally, I hope they keep in mind and preserve what the late Dean Ebert rightfully identified as the original movie's warm-hearted spirit: "Kelly LeBrock is wonderful as the fantasy woman, because she plays the character not for sex, but for warmth and an almost motherly affection for these two boys.... It could be soft porn, but the way she says it, her voice has a wink."
