It’s not controversial to call Jessica Chastain one of the best actors working today. She has numerous awards, has been a part of massive films, and is generally great in just about anything she does. Chastain is also an accomplished producer, getting a ton of movies and TV series greenlit over the past several years. So, as a superstar performer and a powerful producer, she could likely get just about anything made, even her dream remake of “Death Becomes Her.”
Yes, you read that right—Jessica Chastain is, uh, dying to get “Death Becomes Her” remade, and she even has her perfect co-star already picked out. In a recent interview with Parade, Jessica Chastain, who is promoting her new film, ”The Good Nurse,” was asked which classic film she’d like to remake. You know, since remakes are all the rage nowadays. And her response is something fairly surprising.
“I was just talking to Annie [Hathaway] about this! It would be so fun to remake [the 1992 black comedy] ‘Death Becomes Her,’” said Chastain. “I’ll do either the Meryl Streep or Goldie Hawn role. You know, when it came out it was a huge flop. People thought it was garbage! But I think it’s a masterpiece.”
“Death Becomes Her” is a 1992 black comedy starring Goldie Hawn, Meryl Streep, and Bruce Willis. The film tells the story of two women who fight over a man and use a special potion that grants them eternal youth. However, as with most “too good to be true” deals, the potion has some crazy side effects that play out in hilarious, somewhat grotesque ways. The film isn’t generally thought of as “garbage,” as Chastain says, but “Death Becomes Her” is far from a classic film, even though it did win an Oscar for Best Visual Effects.
While Hollywood sure does love to remake everything nowadays, most of the time studios pick great films and TV series to revisit. However, with something like “Death Becomes Her,” there’s a real opportunity to do something special and unique with a remake and possibly improve over the original. Though, I would suggest that Chastain avoid working with Robert Zemeckis on it, as the filmmaker who did the original 1992 film hasn’t really been turning in great work in recent years.
Will a remake of “Death Becomes Her” actually ever happen? You would have to believe that a studio would be hard-pressed to pass up the project if Chastain and Hathaway are involved. So, perhaps we’ll actually see this one come to fruition.