MovieChat Forums > Rebecca (1940) Discussion > Remake announced, starring...

Remake announced, starring...


Lily James and Armie Hammer.

James is a good choice, she played a similar character in "Darkest Hour", and was good.

Hammer on the other hand... oy. Hopefully there will be time to recast the role before the shooting starts, and have someone who can pass as an Englishman play Max DeWinter.

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Will it be set in the present or the past? To me old films just have a certain style and elegance that modern films can't match. I guess we will see how it goes.

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I think it's got to be set in the 1930s, the era when the book was written. A lot of the conflict revolves around the traditions of the country Squirearchy (hereditary landowners), and how the traditions create huge personal problems for the main characters, but nobody's willing to break with tradition before the crisis because... it's tradition.

And most of those traditions fell apart during WWII, which was just a few years away. The great houses were closed or taken over by the military, wages and taxes rose and the squires could no longer keep dozens of servants, lands were sold and families like the DeWinters no longer owned the local farms and villages, etc. Plus, from WWII on girls like the second Mrs. DeWinter could get better jobs than being companion to some old bitch. So yeah, I really think it's got to be set during the 1930s.

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Hadn't heard anything about this. If they pull it off, I hope they have the smarts not to make the "sequel" Mrs. DeWinter.

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I see that Kristin Scott Thomas will be rejoining Lily James from 'Darkest Hour.' As Mrs Danvers.

Lily James has said that it will be very different from the Hitchcock version. I'm waiting to see some images from this production to get a sense of what they've done to the story.

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Well the Hitchcock version was an extremely faithful adaptation of a damn good book, which resulted in s damn good movie, so that statement doesnt bode well.

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I just saw both versions. Both are very good. The Hitchcock film follows the book marginally closer. James and Fonteyn both bring something good to the character of the second Mrs. De Winter. Unfortunately Hammer is a stiff compared to Olivier, who is much more like the novel's De Winter.

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