# Spielberg's Next Film Will Be a Remake of "Harvey" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 3, 2009, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146 "2009-08-03T07:31:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ColonelDax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71e660/32.png) [@ColonelDax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ColonelDax)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/1 "2009-08-03T07:31:07Z")
The script will be by novelist Jonathan Tropper, according to the [press release](http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20090803005414&newsLang=en). ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/2 "2009-08-03T08:13:51Z")
JUST what film audiences need and want: another remake! :rolleyes: And Hollywood claims _piracy_ is killing business . . . ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Fight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90ced4/32.png) [@Cat\_Fight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Fight)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/3 "2009-08-03T11:35:11Z")
At least [Donnie Darko](http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/04/12/fondue_donniedarko_wideweb__470x299,0.jpg) put a twist on it. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_McAwful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e99b99/32.png) [@Larry\_McAwful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_McAwful)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/4 "2009-08-03T11:47:29Z")
Why? Why why why??? The original was great! Can’t these people come up with original ideas anymore? I’ll write a damned screenplay for them, if that’s what they want. How hard can it be? Apparently it’s pretty hard, since all anyone seems willing to do anymore is remakes. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/5 "2009-08-03T11:56:53Z")
> [@Cat\_Fight](#): > > At least [Donnie Darko](http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2006/04/12/fondue_donniedarko_wideweb__470x299,0.jpg) put a twist on it. DAMMIT! My line was “It’s been done- Donnie Darko.” Well played! ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/6 "2009-08-03T13:20:17Z")
Get Tom Hanks or don’t do it. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/7 "2009-08-03T13:47:11Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Get Tom Hanks or don’t do it. Will Ferrell is cheaper. ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/8 "2009-08-03T14:41:14Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Get Tom Hanks or don’t do it. I agree. I’m not happy about the remake, but Hanks was born to play this role. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/9 "2009-08-03T14:46:34Z")
It will probably be Jim Carey or Will Farrell. Or Adam Sandler: …mumble mumble mumble baby talk…FUCK OFF, RABBIT!!! Mumble mumble baby talk…" ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/10 "2009-08-03T14:53:06Z")
It’ll be Hanks. Spielberg likes reusing actors (he’s made 3 films with Hanks), and it’s not as if money will be a problem for him, or that anyone will tell him who to cast. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/11 "2009-08-03T14:56:38Z")
Wasn’t it remade not that long ago with Leslie Neilson? ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/12 "2009-08-03T15:00:07Z")
The beauty of the original is that Elwood was this sweet, kind, likable guy who _could not be flustered_. Modern Hollywood Rules will insist on Elwood doing double takes, cursing at Harvey and such. Of course, Harvey will cause a car crash complete with explosion. Yuch. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/13 "2009-08-03T15:03:59Z")
Even worse, the studio will insist on doing a CGI render of “Harvey.” ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/14 "2009-08-03T15:04:59Z")
What, the Harry Anderson remake didn’t suck enough? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/15 "2009-08-03T15:05:58Z")
I think Tom Hanks is a little too on the nose, by the way. Hanks gets enough of the Jimmy Stewart comparisons as it is. How about Leo? Spielberg has used him before. He’s got chops, and he wouldn’t just be a Jimmy Stewart retread. I think he could find an original angle into the character. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/16 "2009-08-03T15:09:58Z")
> [@Larry\_McAwful](#): > > Why? Why why why??? The original was great! Can’t these people come up with original ideas anymore? > > I’ll write a damned screenplay for them, if that’s what they want. How hard can it be? Apparently it’s pretty hard, since all anyone seems willing to do anymore is remakes. Spielberg (and George Lucas, and Tim Burton) is for some reason hopelessly fixated on his childhood, and is determined to somehow try and pay homage to his memories by ruining those same memories for everyone else. I don’t think he’s trying to consciously ruin them, but I think this whole “oh I’ll just remake something old as an homage, rather than create something new that will also please and inspire people” is just about the shittiest excuse for “creativity” in the arts that the western world has yet seen. I agree that at least **Donnie Darko** had a twist (okay, a severe Moebius twist) on the idea. But Spielberg is no longer interested in making anything new, only in dwelling in the past, and somehow trying to be the creator of his own childhood memories. Retromegalomaniacal Constructionist Disorder or something; someone has to have coined a term to describe this (maybe it was me, just now, eh). In any case, I hate it and wish it would stop, but people LOVE nostalgia and they love to bet (invest) on a sure thing (as they see it: Spielberg is a successful director! **Harvey** was a great movie! We can’t lose!) so I doubt that this nonsense will do anything other continue to gain traction, instead of slipping back into the dark, dank recesses where it belongs. ---
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/17 "2009-08-03T15:21:58Z")
Hollywood thrives on remakes, always has done. Some of them even turn out better than the original. (The Maltese Falcon is a case in point, although I am a big fan of the original 1931 movie with the great Ricardo Cortez and Bebe Daniels). As to this particular remake, I’d say Hanks (or possibly Jim Carrey) is a shoo in for the role of Elwood Dowd. I’m not enthused by either of them. BTW they remade this for television in 1998, with Harry Anderson as Dowd and Leslie Nielsen as Dr Chumley. Didn’t catch it though. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/18 "2009-08-03T15:23:43Z")
This idea sucks. The original is close to flawless; I can’t see anything good coming from a remake. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/19 "2009-08-03T15:26:10Z")
Up next: Uwe Boll’s re-imagining of **Citizen Kane**! ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2009, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146/20 "2009-08-03T15:34:17Z")
I have a friend interning this summer in Speilberg’s office. Word is that Hanks had the role locked-up before they got rights. Kathy Bates will be the aunt, Owen Wilson is Dr. Chumley, Harvey will be all CGI, and the whole thing will be a hard-core porn. And sadly, all of this would be better than what Speilberg will end up making. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spielbergs-next-film-will-be-a-remake-of-harvey/505146.md?page=2)