Booze News: Spielberg Plans to Remake HARVEY

Godfrey Daniel! First Arthur; now this!

Who suddenly decided it was a good idea to start remaking the soused cinema classics? Variety's Mike Fleming reports that Steven Spielberg has decided that his next film will be a remake of Mary Chase's Pulitzer Prize-winning play and Jimmy Stewart's memorable film, Harvey (1950). Casting (Do I smell Tom Hanks?) and pre-production are supposed to begin immediately, so this is probably going to happen.

This would not be the first remake of the classic 1950 film. There have been at least seven television versions of the play with the following Elwood P. Dowds--Art Carney (1958), Günther Lüders (1959), Ernst Stankovski (1967), Heinz Rühmann (1970), James Stewart (again, 1972), Harald Juhnke (1985), and Harry Anderson (1998). Do we really need another?

The only films that should be remade are ones that were good ideas that were poorly executed the first time around (The Fly, for instance). Otherwise, I've got some advice for Hollywood--Take pen, press against paper, and write something original. Does anyone remember how to do that?

Here's the link to the full story in Variety:
SPIELBERG TAKES HARVEY AS NEXT PIC