In an interview with Peter Sciretta of /Film, Chris Columbus shared some insight as to why he wants to give Gremlins a reboot.
For starters, when Sciretta asked Columbus if he was involved at all in the upcoming reboot, he said:
I am involved. Initially I remember back in ’84-’85 when they approached me and said, do you wanna write the sequel and I said, this is before the obsession with franchises. So my feeling was no. We’ve told the story, that was that’s 1980’s thinking. And then suddenly all these years later, we were approached with an idea that really sounded like an interesting version. It’s not a remake of the movie at all. It’s a, it’s just a reinvention of it.
Unable to share any detailed plot info, Columbus spoke about what made him change his mind after all these years. Apparently the brand new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer had a lot to do with helping him contextualize his decision, citing emotional connections and nostalgia, but emphasizing new stories. He shared more details during the interview:
I mean, one thing I learned from the Star Wars trailer is — and actually, we knew this all along and J.J.’s been doing it and really doing it effectively, beautifully is touching into that emotional connection we have with our past. And he did it with Star Trek, just by casting Leonard Nimoy in that role in that movie, and really having that connection. So when I saw the Star Wars trailer and saw Chewie and Han Solo at the end of the trailer, I was, it was emotional. And that’s what everybody wanted for the past 30 years. We had wanted that. So for me, I would wanna get involved if we could create some sort of emotional connection even though it’s a new story.
It’s definitely reassuring to see that it’s his emotional connection to the characters that drew him back in. It’s a hopeful sign that maybe this “reinvention” of the movie will get the attention it deserves. Columbus being the original writer of the movie is yet another good sign that we can expect the title to be handled with care, even if it is a completely new story.
As shown in the interview, reinventions of old stories and reinterpretations of old canons seem to be the new, prevailing trend among movies these days. It’s refreshing to see a story’s creator remain invested in the emotions that go into a story, while still striving for something new.
(via /Film)
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