Red Dawn Remake Currently Filming

[AcesandEights]

I couldn't quite recall if we had this discussion (wonky forum search didn't turn up anything), but in doing some old reminiscing about Swayze, I came across mention of the Red Dawn re-make and remembered having heard of it before. Well, now it looks like it's not only been cast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dawn_(2010_film)#Cast), but is currently filming!

The basics can be found at IMDB (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1234719/) and some particulars can be found at Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dawn_(2010_film)):


Two top executives at MGM, Harry Sloan and Mary Parent, announced that a remake of Red Dawn is in the early stages of pre-production in May 2008 at the Festival de Cannes. This was announced along with a big-budget rebuild of RoboCop, which director Darren Aronofsky among others has recently been in to discuss. The remake of Red Dawn is slated to be directed by Dan Bradley, who has previously worked as a second unit director and stunt coordinator on films such as The Bourne Ultimatum, Spiderman 3, Independence Day, and the Quantum of Solace. MGM has announced that Red Dawn will be remade "keeping in mind the post-9/11 world that we're in".[1][2] In a further announcement the same month, Dan Bradley has been confirmed as the director with Carl Ellsworth, screenwriter of Red Eye and Disturbia writing the updated screenplay.[1][3] Ellsworth will be working from a story written by Jeremy Passmore. Vincent Newman (A Man Apart) is also acting in a producer capacity.[4] Australian Chris Hemsworth has been cast in a lead role.[5]

“ The tone is going to be very intense, very much keeping in mind the post-9/11 world that we’re in. As ‘Red Dawn’ scared the heck out of people in 1984, we feel that the world is kind of already filled with a lot of paranoia and unease, so why not scare the hell out of people again? It was later revealed that the Chinese would be the invaders and they would be aided by the Russians later on ”

—Carl Ellsworth, screenwriter[6]


Just thought this might make some of you happy and some of you pissed off. :D




PS--If you're not pissed off about this, but would like to be, it might help if you take into account that Connor Cruise, adopted son of Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, has a role :moon:

[MoonSylver]

Ugh. I've been remake-raped so often these days I can't even build up a decent head of steam over it anymore. Don't think they'll be able to capture that same cold war paranoia vibe like they did back in the 80's. It was very much a product of the times. *Sigh* I suppose we'll see...:confused:

[Skippy911sc]

This must be what really killed patrick swayze ... to soon?

I loved the original and I am sure this will be a fast pased popcorn and bubble gum flick that the tv generation will like. But without Swaze and Sheen not to mention the others it just won't be the same.

[BillyRay]

It seems to me like a big part of what made the original movie work won't be in play in the remake.

The original works like a parallel to the Afghani Insurgents VS the Red Army in the 1980's. The idea is that Locals (who really know the terrain) will have a huge advantage against a conventional invading army. Especially using guerilla tactics.

(At least after you strip away the superficial layer of nationalist flag-waving.)

How can they accomplish that in the remake? Right now,we're the country currently occupying Afghanistan. The insurgents have gone from Freedom Fighters back to Terrorists. (Funny how that works) I'm not sure who we're supposed to identify with this time around. The bomb-throwing kids? The occupying army?

(And, really, Russkies and Red Chinese?!? Why not have Nazis invade? Or the Mongols...)

I'm curious to see how they'll make this work. If they make this work. Ironicly? As a lesson about "Who are the Good Guys" really being a matter of perspective? I'm not sure I wanna blow $10 bucks & 2 hours to find out.

[EvilNed]

To be honest, I think the original had a brilliant and utopian premise, but the film itself sucked. So heck, I'm not totally against this remake.

[AcesandEights]

I too wonder how they'll pull it off. The Russians and the Red Chinese invading? It just doesn't have the palpable sense of possibility and topicality that such a fear-laden idea held when we were at the paranoid brink in the Cold War.

[SRP76]

Forget "Cold War paranoia!" and political views. The original made sense because it was somewhat possible: Cubans invading first, being located just a short distance off both Texas and Florida. This can at least be done.

Chinese invading? From where, exactly? They going to cross the Pacific without being spotted, you know, a WEEK before the invasion force arrives? How does that work?

[BillyRay]

At least our hate of this idea will keep us warm...
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vwt55TQq-3k/SdFXkGzkmGI/AAAAAAAAEds/RGUq2O8Fx4o/s320/avenge+me.jpg

[Shea]

The premise never made any sense to me. You don't just "invade" the U.S. It was an absurd idea then and it's even more absurd now. Did they ever really explain how it happened? Cubans? How would you do that - canoes? And how would the Soviets cross over/through Alaska and our missiles bases there? Was it an alternate universe where satellites didn't exist?

And the Chinese have no Navy, at least nothing that could cross half the world away en-masse. And the Russians? Hell, they're more democratic than America is now, thanks to our current President.

So in the end, a remake would be as idiotic as the original.

[EvilNed]

But utopian, and hopefully spark the worker's revolution in the US when the masses realize how much better off they'd be!

[zombie04]

The premise never made any sense to me. You don't just "invade" the U.S. It was an absurd idea then and it's even more absurd now. Did they ever really explain how it happened? Cubans? How would you do that - canoes? And how would the Soviets cross over/through Alaska and our missiles bases there? Was it an alternate universe where satellites didn't exist?



If I recall the original opened with a setup premise that the world had simply gone to hell, the communists gained full control of South America w/ China's help and the Russians moved through Europe at the same time or something along those lines.

Honestly I'm not that thrilled with the idea of a remake. The original was so Cold War it wasn't funny (though it really was) and the cast was very hard to improve upon. It was essentially the Outsiders going guerilla.

[EvilNed]

I thought the original was really hilariously bad, but it didn't work as a feature film. But the premise itself is hilarious: The Soviets invade the US and the only people that can save the nation are a group of cocky high school kids. Hells yeah!

But if a serious Soviet Invasion film had been made, that could have been really cool.

[SRP76]

I thought the original was really hilariously bad, but it didn't work as a feature film. But the premise itself is hilarious: The Soviets invade the US and the only people that can save the nation are a group of cocky high school kids. Hells yeah!

But if a serious Soviet Invasion film had been made, that could have been really cool.

The movie had completely nothing to do with what you described. So I don't know what you watched.

What happened in Red Dawn was that a group of kids happened to get caught in an occupied zone, and then struggled to A. not get killed while being stuck there, and B. escape from the occupied zone out into free territory.

[Mike70]

I

Or the Mongols...)


now i'd pay money to see that for sure.

hell, take it a step further: how bout the roman army led by gaius marius at vercellae taken straight from the battlefield and delivered to the 21st century just in time to strike the final blow against the mongols.

[EvilNed]

The movie had completely nothing to do with what you described. So I don't know what you watched.

What happened in Red Dawn was that a group of kids happened to get caught in an occupied zone, and then struggled to A. not get killed while being stuck there, and B. escape from the occupied zone out into free territory.

You can't say that it was nothing like what I described. Infact, I just described the plot! Okay, they aren't saving the world, but they're sure beating up on alot of specially trained Soviet soldiers, shouting WOLVERINES all-the-while. It was a ridiculous premise from the beginning. The film YOU'RE describing actually sounds as if it could be something worth watching!

[AcesandEights]

The movie had completely nothing to do with what you described. So I don't know what you watched.

What happened in Red Dawn was that a group of kids happened to get caught in an occupied zone, and then struggled to A. not get killed while being stuck there, and B. escape from the occupied zone out into free territory.

Exactly.

The films events don't take place in a bubble. Just because the film's protagonists are the center-piece of the film, does not make them the axial pivot of the entire fictional universe.

Now, as far as the idea of partisans in a part of America, given a foreign incursion, well...I don't find that to be a faulty premise for a cold war era film, in the least.

[EvilNed]

Wolverines!!!

[Mike70]

And the Chinese have no Navy, at least nothing that could cross half the world away en-masse. And the Russians? Hell, they're more democratic than America is now, thanks to our current President.


the chinese thing is nuts. like you said, how the frak would they get here? even if the US navy wasn't the most powerful military force that's ever existed on this planet, guess what would happen to that chinese invasion fleet if some plutonium were broken out on it.

any navy whose name isn't "royal navy" or "marine nationale" wouldn't stand a pig's chance in a bacon factory. in fact, the tonnage of the ships in the US navy is greater than the next 13 navies combined. the air wing of the navy is larger than the combined air forces of the UK, france, germany and italy. so i'm really not worried about china.

[MaximusIncredulous]

"As ‘Red Dawn’ scared the heck out of people in 1984..."

That's a joke, right?