Why a remake so soon after the original?
Is there anybody out there, who can provide me with some trivia on how comes that a remake was made so soon after the original ("Nikita" by Luc Besson)?
shareBecause the original was a french film, with a french language soundtrack, which the majority of Americans stay away from in droves. Subtitles spell commercial death for any film in this country.
Because it was made in France, not in hollyweird, they decided they'd be able to make more money if they Americanized it, hired "name brand" actors, and cashed in!
Because hollyweird is afraid to make movies based on original ideas. Nearly all they do anymore is remake other movies, changing little things, like character names and adding a "happy ending". It's "safer", since the average 14-24 year old target audience member will be able to understand it and recommend it to their friends.
C'est vrai. Unfortunately so, but it is true. Hollywood would rather use a formula that is tried and true instead of take a chance on something/someone new. They changed many of the good points of "Nikita," and infused them with cliche and formula that I personally found very unsatisfying. I'm a foreign film buff anyway, but people really need to get out of their little holes in the ground and realize that there is more to movies than what Hollywood American says there is.
shareI started about a year or two ago noticing this, I've started to become very very interested in foreign films. Hollywierd (i like that name) is just too much, I'm truly sick of it, no studio wants to take a chance, and I refuse to believe that all American movie ideas are all used up. That's BS.
The rest of the world doesn't think so and their films reflect that.
Now if Quentin Tarantino would "present" Femme Nikita to the US, no remake necessary.
I haven't seen "La Femme Nikita" although I've heard of it and how good it supposed to be compared to "Point of No Return". Besides that, I like the shot taken at Hollywood (or Hollyweird).
shareI would normally agree with you any time on American remakes of European movies. However, "Point of No Return" and "Nikita" is the ONLY exception I can think of: I actually like the American version!
I watched "Nikita" first, and it is indeed a very interesting movie. But the main character (played by Anne Parillaud) doesn't develop much. She continues to be a cold and rather rough person throughout the movie. In that respect, Maggie/Claudia (played by Bridget Fonda) becomes a much more interesting person to watch. She is a more complex character. I'm not sure her sudden change of attitude and her transformation into the beautiful and pleasant woman walking down the stairs one day is all that credible, but hey, it's a movie, it doesn't have to be realistic!
I also liked the sets for the "training area" in "Point of No Return" better. It looked so sterile in a way, sort of like an image of a futuristic world. In "Nikita" it looked like an abandoned old hospital or factory, or something like that.
So, when it comes to the story and the actors, I actually prefer the American version. But the cinematography is better in the French, I think.
Luc Besson both wrote and directed the original movie. The fact that he actually later asked specifically for Bridget Fonda to play the main female lead in one of his own movies ("Kiss of the Dragon") could be interpreted as some sort of approval. That he didn't think they ruined "his" original movie.
But as for remakes in general: terrible! Especially the kind of censorship they make. Anything which is not politically correct is removed. Such as the French movie "Three Men and a Cradle" turning into "Three Men and a Baby". One of the clues in the original is the fact that they actually don't know which of the three men is the father of the child. Obviously, they couldn't have that in the USA!
I am Danish, and a few years back we had a really good thriller called "Nattevagten" (Found on imdb at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110631/ ). They made an American version of this movie called "Night Watch" http://http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119791/ with Ewan McGregor, Patricia Arquette and Nick Nolte, and it's crap. Even the voters here on IMDB, which I assume are mostly American, have rated the Danish version far higher. As far as I know, it went straight to video.
And even cartoons are changed. I'm sure Hans Christian Andersen is turning in his gave by now. "The Little Mermaid" is a sad story, it does not have a happy end!
Bridget Fonda is perfect for this part. I think she did a LOT better than the original French actress!
shareI totally agree that Bridget was perfect as Maggie/Claudia. I just found these comments from director John Badham in the production notes (from the press kit) for "Point of No Return":
Because the role of Maggie is such a powerful and complex female character, many of Hollywood's top actresses clamored for the chance to take it on. "It was the most wonderful thing," exclaims Badham. "I could choose from just about anybody; women were excited by this role:
"I was interested in Bridget specifically because of her vulnerability. It would have been easy to choose an actress who plays tough. Instead, I was interesting in taking a person who had an inside vulnerability and letting her be tough on the outside.
"Bridget has great charm, and tremendous athletic ability. You think it's easy to shoot a gun? Wait 'til you try to shoot and not blink. Wait 'til you try to throw a stunt punch and not slug the other actor. And yet she's so wonderful at all this stuff which she's never done before."
Another remake of a famous french movie is "True Lies" with Schwarzeneger, a pale copy of "La Totale", which is brillant and very funny. The remake of the french medieval comedy "the visitors" is also a cultural shame...
shareOther examples of what I consider terrible American remakes of French movies are:
Three Men and a Cradle - Three Men and a Baby
Cousin, Cousine - Cousins
The originals are simply SO much better.But I'll still claim that I liked Point of No Return better than Nikita! (Strangely enough)
I like both versions but the original is a bit better (ending for example).
"Point of No Return" is one of this remakes what was not necessary but enjoyable to watch.
For me the same with the remake of "The gateway"
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Just came across a Bridget Fonda interview online in connection with Kiss of the Dragon (by Luc Besson), in which Bridget Fonda also comments on the fact that she was in the remake of Nikita, also by Luc Besson (remade as Point of No Return). It seems as even Luc Besson thought FONDA did a good job (even though he might not have liked all the details in the movie) - otherwise I suppose he wouldn't have wanted to work with her later on?????? The interviewer is Joey Baloney.
Q: What did you think when you first read the script [for Kiss of the Dragon]?
BF: Well, what happened was that I had not read the script before I agreed to do it. So as I was approached, it was a call from my agent saying Luc Besson's in town, he's doing a project with Jet Li, they're thinking of doing an action/thriller set in Paris, uhmm, you wanna go in and meet? I said yes, I most certainly do, I'm a huge Luc Besson fan. I had done a remake of one of his films
Q: Exactly…
BF: ...and thought I would never get a chance to work with him after I did a remake of a film of his that was really excellent and I thought well, you know…oh well. This is the closest I'm gonna get…I don't speak French. So, I was thrilled!
.....
Q: What was your meeting like with Luc Besson? You know, you did appear in the remake [of LA FEMME NIKITA] and stuff. Did he say anything about that?
BF: Well, yeah. It was one of those things where I didn't know how much I wanted to dwell on it, because I kinda wanted to work with him. I thought I don't know if I wanna dig that up. What if he really, you know…uh, I don't know. So I sort of just stepped back and didn't say too much. But he told me that he thought that I did a good job. There were things that he would have done differently and I said, "Oh yeah? Like what?" And after he told me, I was like "yeah, you're right".
Like if I could do it again, you're so right. Oh well. You know…he did after all create it and hone it and I made a point of not studying <his film>. I had seen the film and then I made a point of not seeing it again cause I didn't want to seem like we were trying to do…repeat someone else's work. I wanted to find it myself. I'm very stubborn myself. I wanna do it myself. And, I don't know, I guess he liked it. I guess he liked my energy or something. So he kinda threw me a bone. But the biggest thing is that he would work with me so I figured, he couldn't have hated it! (Laughs) At least he would've thought I had potential if he wanted to work with me. So I liked that.
You can reade the whole interview here: http://www.joblo.com/interviewfonda.htm
Point of No Return wasn't a BAD movie, in my opinion. But Nikita was better. Perhaps if I'd seen the remake first, my opinion would be different, but when I saw Point of No Return I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd been there and done that.
I can't put my finger on anything in particular that was wrong with the remake: Fonda's performance, for example, was fine--she just wasn't as good as Parillaud. And I enjoyed the way Keitel portrayed Victor the Cleaner as a homicidal Mr. Rogers: but once I went back and re-watched Nikita, I found that he just didn't measure up to Jean Reno; even the French word Reno uses to describe himself--"nettoyeur"--has sinister overtones which are lost in translation.
Perhaps if I hadn't seen the original French movie first, I would like Point of No Return a lot better. I'm a very big fan of the American version of Insomnia, which was not only well-directed by Christopher Nolan, but included one of Al Pacino's best performances in years. But I've never seen the Norwegian original, and I wonder how I would react to it now.
And what about nearly every Asian horror movie from the last five years?
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"Because the role of Maggie is such a powerful and complex female character, many of Hollywood's top actresses clamored for the chance to take it on. "It was the most wonderful thing," exclaims Badham. "I could choose from just about anybody; women were excited by this role:
"I was interested in Bridget specifically because of her vulnerability. It would have been easy to choose an actress who plays tough. Instead, I was interesting in taking a person who had an inside vulnerability and letting her be tough on the outside.
"Bridget has great charm, and tremendous athletic ability. You think it's easy to shoot a gun? Wait 'til you try to shoot and not blink. Wait 'til you try to throw a stunt punch and not slug the other actor. And yet she's so wonderful at all this stuff which she's never done before."
And you don't think that the fact that Anne Parillaud got the French oscar for her performance was any influence in this at all
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I think Point of No Return doesn't hold up well with La Femme Nikita (the American title) because Bridget Fonda's version is Americanized.
Luc Besson's title character is not out for redemption. She is a study in a woman realizing that she's ruined her life and that there is no going back. She was based on several women Besson grew up around, who were serious drug addicts. While we all hope for the best with addicts, the reality is that most recovering addicts lapse, some with fatal results (like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Ike Turner).
French films have a harder edge by showing what life is really like. American films try to tone down such things. For example, in the French original, a police officer unwisely sets his gun aside so he can administer medical aid to a drugged-up Nikita. She kills him in cold blood because she's in serious need of a fix and the cops ruined her chance.
When a French court sentences her to death, only then does she think about what she's done. Even then, her response is that the death penalty is supposed to have been abolished in France and that the courts can't kill her. She doesn't plead for mercy or admit her crimes. No one in her life ever helped her out, so why should she feel remorse?
Bridget Fonda's character is an addict but she is "forced" to shoot the cop because he drew his weapon on her. So, somehow, she can be forgiven for her horrendous crime and the courts were wrong to sentence her to death.
In the original, Vincent, the Cleaner is shot to pieces by embassy guards and survives long enough to escape. Then, he dies, eyes open on a dark, desolate street. Nikita flees because she sees herself in the future being another cleaner, destined to die all alone on some dark street.
She flees Bob, her handler, because she can't handle her future and she abandons Marco, her boyfriend, because she can't handle her past. She's only left with the present of dragging from one moment to the next.
Bridget Fonda becomes the typical American action hero, by overpowering the cleaner and killing him with the car. Doing that is supposed to represent her break from the life she was doomed to live. We are supposed to cheer for her because she has redeemed herself and can now go into her future with a clean slate.
Besson wrote and produced both French and American versions, but stated publicly that was not pleased with the changes requested for the American movie. That said, he did like Bridget Fonda's acting, which was why he used her in a later film.
Fonda's acting is not the problem. It is the tone of the remake. A lot of people had seen Nikita on VHS before PoNR came out. More sought it out after the American remake was released.
It is a shame that American remakes often have to dumb down source material because producers think the American public can't handle serious issues.
It is easy to tell someone to "take a chance" when it isn't your money on the line. If you hate the "tried formulas", blame the public. It is hard taking a chance on a movie. You either A) Have to be Steven Spielburg or B) Have to make it an Indie film.
It all boils down to money. People film what sells.
Plus, timing is EVERYTHING. They may have great movies laying around that need a few years to ripen. You need to get the right cast, release at the right time, etc... Americans are very fickle. It is a very scary process.
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Yes, Fonda was not as great as alot of people on this board seem to think, in my opinion. She was good, but not great.
Also, I think that the people who prefer the remake seen it before the original and that should never happen. It's a shot for shot remake and claiming that it is better solely on Fonda's performance is silly as it was the original that came up with all the ideas.
But, we will always have remakes as Americans don't like reading subtitles.
She shivers in the wind, like the last leaf of a dying tree.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there were folks in addition to US citizens who don’t like reading subtitles, which are not always accurate, or being fluent in French, the language of the cheese-eating surrender monkey, or both. Why the hell do you think that Luc Besson makes so many movies in English? Because he likes making money! Luc will choose making money over your condescending cinema snobbery any day of the week.
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