Indie director turned studio comedy director David Gordon Green has been talking about doing a remake of Dario Argento’s cult horror classic Suspiria for a couple years now. Back in March of this year, he insinuated that he would be making the remake his next film after the release of The Sitter. Well, The Sitter is out now, and it’s time for Green to move on to his next project, so what’s the deal with Suspiria?
The director recently told IFC, “I’ve turned in the script. We’re just looking at casting and locations and trying to figure out budget and if it works.” Fans of remakes all over the world probably just let out a cheer at the news that the script is finished, but what is that about figuring out budgets? Does it seem likely that an agreement on the price of this thing will be reached, or is this a script likely to sit on the shelf because it can’t get financing?
“I’ve been trying to make it for four years and trying to find the support entity to finance it,” Green says. “It’s a very specific movie and the horror genre is in a very specific place right now that’s very much inspired by the success of movies like Paranormal Activity that show you can make a very economical killing at the box office, so to speak.” That doesn’t sound good to me. Any remake of Argento’s work is going to have to be pretty visually astounding to not get crapped on by everyone who has ever seen the original Suspiria, so talk about budgets and trying to find funding this early in a possible remake’s pre-production has to be viewed as a huge roadblock.
The one bit of good news I can see for people who want this one to get made is that Green himself has a history of making movies look way more expensive than they are. There were bits of Your Highness that looked just as good as any big budget fantasy film, and that was just a stupid comedy. If anybody could get this thing done and done right on a pinched penny, Green just may be the man.
And, if nothing else, he still seems to remain optimistic that this project is a possibility. “I hope I get to make it. I hope somebody takes those risks,” he said. “I feel like I’m closer every day to having people embrace the script and the story I’m trying to do and the technique I want to execute it in. I hope so.” That’s a far cry from when he was calling this his next movie, but it doesn’t appear to be a dead deal yet.
Which way do you want to see this one go? Do we hope Green gets this one off the ground, or is remaking Argento just a dumb idea in the first place? Personally, I’m just glad to hear the guy talking about doing something other than another stupid comedy. The Sitter was about thirty times more boring than his early films, and I’m running out of patience waiting for more Green greatness.