The attitudes around remakes ebb and flow depending on what audiences see coming out of Hollywood. Some people love remakes, some people hate them, and some people see them as necessary to fund a more original project. But regardless of where one falls on the scale, remakes have been around for as long as we can remember, and they’re an integral part of the film industry.
READ MORE: ‘Final Cut’ Trailer: Michel Hazanavicius’ Remake Of ‘One Cut Of The Dead’ Arrives In July
Although the length of time between an original and a remake varies, it seems to be somewhere around six to ten years from the former to the latter which makes Michel Hazanavicius‘ timing for his latest project perfect. In 2017, Shin’ichirō Ueda directed a film like none other we had seen before. Titled “One Cut of the Dead,” the film was a low budget film that followed a team of actors and filmmakers as they were tasked with creating a live television zombie film in a single take. The film, which was praised for its uniqueness and humor, made box office history by earning over a thousand times its budget.
Academy Award winner Hazanavicius remakes the aforementioned Japanese cult hit and adds his own flare to the premise. “Final Cut” follows a director (Romain Duris) charged with making a live, single-take, low budget zombie film. While this sounds much like the description above of “One Cut of the Dead,” Hazanavicius says that “I have betrayed it [“One Cut of the Dead”] as much as possible in order to be as faithful as I could, because I’m convinced that when you adapt you must betray.” He continued to say that he tried to stay true to the original and keep things similar like structure and the things about the original that he liked, but they worked on a different scale to the original.
Looking at Hazanavicius’ filmography, “Final Cut” is a step outside of what audiences may normally expect from him. However, with his love of his craft and the deeper themes and premises that this film seems to cover, it makes perfect sense.
“Final Cut” originally premiered at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, but is finally seeing domestic theatrical release this weekend.
The blood-soaked comedy stars Romain Duris, Bérénice Bejo, Grégory Gadebois, Finnegan Oldfield, Matilda Lutz, Sébastien Chassagne, Raphaël Quenard, Lyes Salem, Simone Hazanavicius, Agnès Hurstel, Charlie Dupont, Jean-Pascal Zadi, Luàna Bajrami, Raika Hazanavicius, and Yoshiko Takehara.
“Final Cut” hits select US theaters today. Check out an exclusive clip from the below.