Casting stuff…

Updated on April 28, 2009 By Ken Begg 12 Comments

Robert Englund IS Freddy Krueger, to the extent that it seemed sheer folly to have him replaced in next year’s remake of the original A Nightmare on Elm Street. I have to say, though, that Watchman’s Jackie Earle Haley is a surprisingly viable pick.

The film will still probably suck, though. The lack of Wes Craven will remain a far more glaring absence. And he’s being replaced by a music video director! Yikes!

I’m rather more excited to hear that Elizabeth Shue, Ving Rhames and Richard Dreyfus (!) will be appearing in next year’s Piranha 3-D, the rare film I’m totally hyped up about. Not that I care who’s in it, but I just like further confirmation that they are indeed making this film. I’m sure Dreyfus will just have a cameo, but bringing in one of the stars of Jaws (the last remaining one, sadly) is a hilarious idea. I also LOVE the idea that they are dumping the military bioweapon idea, mostly because who needs the plot baggage? Strip that storyline down! I wish a LOT more movies would follow that idea.

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  • BeckoningChasm

    It would not surprise me to learn that the “evil government” bit was dropped not to make the story leaner, but because of who’s in charge of the government now.

    Not saying that’s the case, just that it wouldn’t surprise me.

  • Well, they were working on the movie before Mr. Obama was elected. I’d like to think it’s really because there’s no more overused cliche in sci-fi movies for the last several decades. The inane conviction that each film needs a human villain has probably killed more monster movies than any other aspect for many a year now.

  • Ericb

    It’s not like the “evil government” plot point suffered any during the Clinton era.

  • Yeah, I’m hoping this is just logical scriptwriting. It would be nice to start a trend of that in Hollywood. Watching Turner Classics all the time now reinforces just how bloated the average movie is now.

  • gzilla77

    According to the director, it is in no way a remake or re-imagining of the original movie. The only thing it will share is the title.

  • gzilla77

    Oops I guess I should clarify since you were talking about 2 films. I meant to say the director of Piranha 3-D

  • It warms my heart to hear you guys assume that because this piranha will be well-scripted because they dropped the evil government thing. I’ll believe it once I hear that they’ve also dropped the evil megacorporation thing.

    “The only thing it will share is the title.” Well, what ELSE would it need? Every kid in my college classroom could script a movie using the title “Piranha” without seeing any of the movies, and all of them would probably need 1000 extras for the big lake scene.

  • fish eye no miko

    Ken said: The inane conviction that each film needs a human villain has probably killed more monster movies than any other aspect for many a year now.

    THIS.
    I love monster movies, but the moment they add the human villain element, I find myself nodding off.
    And the worst part is, they so often make the human villain storyline the main on (possibly for monetary reasons). Can’t we have people fighting, running from, and getting attacked by, monsters? Pwease…?

  • Marsden

    It must be some kind of goofball environmentalism mentality that “mother earth” couldn’t send us monsters it’s all man’s fault, even though nature did give us many delightful things already like glaciers, bubonic plauge, and hurricanes, I suppose it’s all our fault for wanting to live.

    I hope the movie is good but since I installed child 4.0 into the family I don’t see too many monster movies anymore.

  • I am still extremely bitter about the remake of the Blob, which didn’t let the mosnter be an alien being.

    Unsurprisingly, I agree with H.P.Lovecraft’s belief that the Unknown and Unthinkable is more terrifying than mere human foibles. The vastness of space and death and time surely hold terrors compared to which nuclear war is but a fizzle.

  • Yeah, I’m apparently one of the few who really dislikes the Blob remake. That was one reason (of many), especially since even at the time that film was made the whole ‘eeee-vil government experiment’ was more of a cliche then just a regulation space monster would have been.

  • The Rev. D.D.

    Despite the gore, I was not a big fan of the Blob remake either. I can’t say I hate it, or even strongly dislike it, but it’s definitely not something I’ve had any inclination to watch again since first seeing 13 years ago.

    The “government experiment” thing was pretty annoying, although I think my biggest problem was I really couldn’t get invested in the leads. They didn’t do anything for me.