Conceptually speaking, the filmmakers behind “Toni Erdmann” had already expressed they were cool with an American remake, even before the huge news broke that Jack Nicholson and Kristen Wiig would star in the redo. “[A remake would] not affect the original, you can shorten the film and make a pure comedy out of [it]. But I would not be the one to do it. I am so happy that I finished the film. It took me five and a half years to write and to write,” director Maren Ade said last month. And indeed, she’s staying out of the way of the new movie.
While the trades have reported that Ade, along with the producers of “Toni Erdmann,” Janine Jackowski and Jonas Dornbach, have their names on Paramount‘s brewing new version, they will not actually be creatively involved.
“It is true that there are negotiations about the sale of the remake rights of ‘Toni Erdmann,’ but if there is ever a remake of the film, neither Maren Ade nor the producers will play an active role. We are very happy with our film as it is…,” they all said in a statement.
It’s probably a safe guess that for legal and financial reasons, we’ll see Ade, Jackowski and Dornbach’s name on whatever comes of the Nicholson/Wiig version, but as they’ve said, they’ll let others take the reins. So, we’ll see how the project shapes up, and right now there are plenty of directions it can go in, as neither a screenwriter or director has yet been found. Let’s hope they do justice to the original, while finding their own unique way into the material. [Screen Daily]
