MovieChat Forums > Takin' Over the Asylum (1994) Discussion > American version?

American version?

posted 17 years ago by skitcher
11 replies | jump to latest

I was just rifling through some old David Tennant interviews from 2000, when I found this:

There was the chance for David to return to Hollywood when the Americans bought the film rights to Takin' Over the Asylum. But those hopes were soon dashed when they decided to rewrite and recast it.

'They were going to cast Jim Carrey and then Nicolas Cage in the Ken Stott role. Then they turned Campbell into a black kid from the ghetto, which clearly ruled me out!'.

Did this actually happen or what? I hope not, it's best left well alone, but...

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] screamthylastscream2000 17 years ago

I hope they don't touch this, god please don't.

Scott

[–] 17 years ago

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[–] MayonnaiseJane 16 years ago

Yeah... it would be a pretty pale shadow if we were to try and do it over again when the Brits got it right the first time... but then I could just be a loony NYer who's watched a few too many hours of the BBC America.

8^)

[–] franceschild-1 16 years ago

The film rights were picked up and Jim Carrey and Nicholas Cage were in the frame but nothing ever came of it. Jim Carrey would have been in the Campbell role.

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] musiu_2001 15 years ago

On a question of realism, it might have been difficult to slot the idea into a US context. I don’t think that hospital radio has anything like the presence in the USA that it has in the UK. We have a great many stations, with the Hospital Broadcasting Association representing over 200 of them.
http://www.hbauk.co.uk/public/

Most of the British stations have their own websites too, often with webstreaming, but just try searching for any US hospital radio station!

I know there’s WCGH at Coler-Goldwater Specialty Hospital in New York City.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/03/nyregion/thecity/03radi.html?_r=1

Also Radio Lollipop (for children’s hospitals) has spilled over from the UK into Miami.
http://www.radiolollipop.org/expand.asp?NewsID=779&t=tblMajorStory

But what else is there?

[–] !!!deleted!!! (41638798) 10 years ago

Know what you mean about radio issues not translating to "American."

I'm American, but when I was in school in the UK in the 70s for awhile, we used to sneak into a laundry closet late at night with a little transistor radio and listen to pirate radio.

When "The Boat that Rocked" a.k.a. "Pirate Radio" came out in the U.S. I tried without much success to explain to a friend of mine who'd never heard of the UK pirate radio era what the film was basically about.

Because she started watching it but did not understand ANY of the context so was completely lost. haha

[–] swatisengupta63 9 years ago

Hopefully the American version never got made. Jim C is a fine comic actor and a star but he just is not DT. Not now. Never really was.