Remakes, Remakes, Remakes - Everything is a Remake
It’s funny how people will tell you to be original in the film business. That the key to success comes with an original story and screenplay, telling the audience a story they haven’t heard before. When Hollywood says be original though, it’s not as simple as one would think.
The film business is a tough one. No one knows what will be a box office success and what will be a bomb. For that very reason, executives want to make movies similar to ones that have succeeded in the past. It gives them a sense of security. It’s why comps are used so heavily in the fundraising stage of filmmaking. If similar ideas in the past have worked well and turned a profit, then why wouldn’t it work again. It’s this very process that leads to so many familiar products flooding the market. Originality is praised in the world of creatives, yet the Hollywood system is not designed to take on the risks associated with a truly original idea. It needs to be similar enough to stories of the past. Truly original ideas typically need to be self financed or have a financial backer as crazy as the filmmaker to get it made.
This leads to remakes constantly being thrown at the viewers. In some cases it’s not a blatant remake, but rather the same story told in a slightly different way. Take the 2019 film MARRIAGE STORY for example. The film follows a married couple, an actress and a stage director (Johansson and Driver), going through a coast-to-coast divorce and custody battle for their son. I saw it on Netflix when it came out and thought it was a unique look at divorce. The film was nominated for Best Picture and Noah Baumbach’s screenplay was nominated for Best Original Screenplay. Last night, however, I watched the 1979 film KRAMER VS. KRAMER which took home the coveted Best Picture award at the 52nd Academy Awards, and I was shocked by the similarities. MARRIAGE STORY was virtually the exact same movie as KRAMER VS. KRAMER. In both films, we follow a couple’s divorce and custody battle play out. In both films, the wife feels as though she gave up her life for the husband. They subsequently leave to pursue their own interests. The husbands in both scenarios come off as imperfect individuals who have trouble taking care of their son but eventually form sound relationships with them. The custody battle in court then gets extremely personal with attacks from both parties. Eventually each film ends with the wife gaining custody, but then an open-ended offer is given to each husband to see their son more. It was shocking how similar these films were. I’m not saying this to slander MARRIAGE STORY or claim that it’s ripping off KRAMER VS. KRAMER, but I’m simply pointing out the fact that the majority of movies being made today are either an official remake or recycled ideas that have been given a slight spin. My favorite example of this also comes from THE DEPARTED. A Best Picture film directed by Martin Scorsese and praised for its amazing plot and acting. Believe it or not, this was a direct remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film titled INTERNAL AFFAIRS. I’d encourage you to read the synopsis and see just how similar the two stories are.
In summary, Hollywood is built on the replication of old ideas. New takes on established stories. It’s an interesting paradox for success: come up with a new idea that has worked before. That’s the business though, for better or for worse. So perhaps instead of struggling for months to come up with an original screenplay, writers should simply look to best picture nominations of the past and see how they can tweak them into something new. In the words of Quentin Tarantino, “I steal from every movie ever made… Great artists steal, they don’t do homages.”