George Clooney is apparently considering starring in a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. The Birds really isn’t a great film (although it’s got some great stuff in it), but certainly it’s a ‘classic’ in terms of grandfathering the subsequently huge genre of animal attack films.
This quote from a studio exec regarding the remake spells trouble, however: “We think we have a very contemporary take. In the original, the birds just showed up, and it was kind of like, why are the birds here? This time, there’s a reason why they’re here and (people) have had something to do with it. There’s an environmental slant to what could create nature fighting back.”
Gee, that’s fresh. There’s only been about a BILLION “revenge of nature” films with explicit explanations like this, such as the recent The Happening. And probably not a single one of them has been a better movie for it. Indeed, one of the real strengths of The Birds is that no such easy answers are provided. It adds to the tension of the film not to know exactly what is going on. And I don’t think many folks consider Jaws 4 better than Jaws, despite the fact that in the Jaws 4 we know ‘why’ the shark is attacking. “This time it’s personal.”
What do I know, though? I only watch movies, I don’t make them.
