With the direction Hollywood has been taking of late, I think there’d be a live-action Beetle Bailey before a Gomer Pyle movie. That said, Josh Hopkins & Laurence Fishburne if we want guys from a similar geographical area to the originals.
Which would be sad in a way, because a Gomer Pyle movie would probably be rated PG-13. Ermey’s language might be restricted to nothing more offensive than “jackwagon.” He wouldn’t have a decent chance to bring out his Gunnery Sergeant Hartman character.
I think we need national legislation declaring it open season on these “remakes”. Anyone writing, directing, producing, acting in, or otherwise involved with or responsible for these abominations may be pelted with rotten fruit and/or water balloons at any time, without consequence.
Except the fuckers talking about blaspheming against John Wayne by remaking True Grit. Those guys should be killed, then flogged.
You want to kill (and then flog) the Coen brothers?
Also, it’s not a remake of the John Wayne movie. It’s a new adaptation of the book. I really don’t have a problem w/ remakes or updates of any kind, but when it’s a new take on existing source material I think it should get even more of a pass.
Clay Aiken should be Gomer. How many effeminate hillbillies are there who can sing opera?
In the reimagining though I’d have Jane Lynch as Sgt. Carter with a special cameo by Andy Griffith as a 5 star general who ‘comes out’ in favor of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Jim Nabors as Grandpa Pyle, and George “Goober” Lindsey as a mechanic. I’d have 79 year old Ronnie Schellreprise the role of Duke without explanation as to the age of a new recruit.
Gomer has to be played by somene who can pull off an innocent and unworldly character. This would be hard to find. Gomer was by no means naive or stupid, he was just too often out of his element.
For example when a car needed to be fixed he was great (though in several episodes of Andy Griffith Gomer claimed only to be able to put gas in a car). Or when it involved nature
Sgt Carter for all his bluster was a typical military person. He wasn’t bright but he could follow orders and get the job done. For instance too many times when the episodes revolves around outdoor things, Carter forgets Gomer is a country boy and knows how to survive off the land and deal with animals.
Both characters had an innocence about them and you’d ned an actor to protray that without having them come across as stupid. Agains “Not bright” doesn’t mean stupid. Carter got taken by people as often as Gomer but with both it was brought about by unfamiliarity with the situations. Gomer having come form a relatively rural secluded area and Carter having spent all of his life someone isolated in the miliary.