Platinum Dunes Talks Remakes

Brad Fuller and Andrew Form, the head o f Platinum Dunes, spoke with Collider to update information about their many projects.  Platinum Dunes is the genre division of Michael Bay’s  production outfit and are making a big splash in 2009 with the February 13 release of Friday the 13th. While they have scads of other unnecessary remakes in the works, they also yearn to produce original fare. Their next project happens to be an original, David S. Goyer’s The Unborn, which opens in January.

Fuller said Friday tested well in Long Beach. “I would say that for us, the two of us, our greatest test screening…our first test screening for Texas Chainsaw Massacre was kind of a magical thing.  We kind of had no idea what we had and then we’ve been jaded by all the other ones we had and then this Friday the 13th test screening came and it took us right back to where we were with Texas Chainsaw.  It was crazy.”

It was recently confirmed that Warner had given a green light to their planned remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street.  Fuller kiddingly suggested, “Well, we want to put Freddy in a hockey mask and we don’t know how people feel about that but we’re excited about it. I think that every iconic horror character you have to take on their own and kind of figure out what is appealing about that character and for Jason Voorhees, it’s one thing because for the most part in all the movies….

“It’s something that we are treading very lightly on and I can tell you for sure that we don’t’ have the answer yet.  That is something that we’re going to work very hard to figure out just how much of the Freddy that you might know from the later movies as opposed to the Freddy from the earlier movies.  I mean it’s a balance and we don’t have that answer yet. “

As to their other remakes, Form said, “We are not doing Rosemary’s Baby.

Fuller explained, “Rosemary’s Baby was announced and it’s like a little bit like we’re taking about with Freddy.  We went down that road and we even talked to the best writers in town and it feels like it might not be do-able.  We couldn’t’ come up with something where it felt like it was relevant and we could add something to it other than what it was so we’re now not going to be doing that film.”

Martin Campbell, though, continues to prep his new version of Alfred Hitchcock’s classic, The Birds.   “We’re expecting a script in the next 2-3 weeks,” Fuller said, :but that’s another one where it’s not like Drew, Michael and I think that we’re just going to crap all over Alfred Hitchcock’s movie.  I mean, Alfred Hitchcock in a company wide opinion is probably the greatest director of what we do and other things too.  And as someone, that at least Michael and I studied in college and there’s a reverence for him.  So that’s not a movie that we’re just going to step up and just go have birds attacking people and trying to throw that into the box office.  If we can’t make that movie unique or add something to it, I don’t think we’re going to make it.”