Rumorland was buzzing with word that Robert Rodriguez was set to direct a remake of The Clash of the Titans, but now, according to Ain’t It Cool News he’s officially off the project. Rodriguez reportedly “loved” Lawrence Kasdan’s script, but the producers wanted to go as soon as possible, and with the advent of the writers’ strike, and a potential actors’ strike on the horizon, Rodriguez wanted to work on his own projects right now. AICN notes that apparently quite a few people in the business are raving about Kasdan’s script, but then again, with the strike one day old, they could well just have forgotten what a good screenplay looks like and are just hallucinating like thirsting travelers lost in the desert. Or it could be really good. We’ll see.
Usually when you hear a remake is in progress, you moan, “What? Why?!!!” This might be one of the rare occasions, though, where you say, “Why not?” A failure at the time of its 1981 release, CotT has garnered a kind of cult following, though mostly among those either awed by its badness or in love with the very idea of Harryhausen effects. The plot is Greek and Roman Mythology Gone Wild, and the cast is even wilder, with a mix of Very Important British actors, such as Laurence Olivier, Maggie Smith, Flora Robson, Sian Phillips and Claire Bloom, Dumbish but Good-Looking types, that is Harry Hamlin and Ursula Andress, and Why the Heck Not, meaning Burgess Meredith.
What would a current cast look like? The unfortunate Orlando Bloom would seem like a lock for the Harry Hamlin part. Any interchangeable boring starlet could step into the Beautiful and Who Cares What Else Aphrodite and Andromeda parts. The British contingent could include Helen Mirren, Dame Judy Dench, and why not Maggie Smith again? And Ian McKellen would probably enjoy himself no end in the Olivier part. So let’s find a director and get this thing going!
