October 26th, 2009 -- Written by Rodney
Let me first say that I have zero confidence in a Footloose remake. The director Kenny Ortega directed the High School Musical films, and while I enjoyed those for what they were (teen pop musicals) I didn’t see a real paralell to those and Footloose so I feared for its direction.
But it seems that Kenny Ortega has moved on from the project citing creative differences.
Chud shares:
Kenny Ortega has left the film over disagreements with Paramount’s production prez Adam Goodman over the tone and budget. Ortega, who has directed the High School Musical movies, wanted to make something with big musical numbers and spend a bunch of Paramount’s cash. Goodman, meanwhile, wants something ‘edgier’ and more of a drama - probably closer to the original than to the Broadway adaptation.
I think every last quality that made it great in the 80s is exactly why it wouldn’t work now.
In the 80s, dancing and music were not a part of pop culture, they WERE the culture. I can think of no other fad, style or mentality that dominated so many subcultures as music in the 80s did. No matter what you listened to, it defined you. This generation is still influenced by its music but not nearly to the degree that it did in the 80s.
So to have a film about a rebellious young hipster who moves to a small town where all that is banished, and actually illegal? That had REAL value. An updated story where they had a town where any one popculture influence was illegal, today’s youth wouldn’t relate. Remove any one popculture reference, and there are a dozen others to satisfy the crazed defining qualities of todays youth.
And that Ortega was directing implied to me they would be adapting the stage musical with the characters breaking into song and dance much like High School Musical. While that still had its appeal, it lost the message of Footloose to begin with. At least that is steering back towards the point of the original film.
Bottom line for me is that Footloose taught me how to dance. Not literally, but it gave me a deeper meaning to going to school dances and clubs. It wasn’t an activity or show. It was an outlet and expression. Today I don’t dance at all. Its just not the same. And frankly I would look like a retard to dance like I used to.
I worry that this remake would also look like that to me. Just not the same.
At all.
Posted in 
How many times have I made the following comment in this and other blogs?
“Hollywood must die”
I would say it again but I don’t wanna sound like a broken record.
I can do better than that James.
“Hollywood must live, but refuses to do so”
Remakes are bad ideas. Why remake something that’s already been made? It’s like watching the same football game twice, you already know who won, so why watch?
My two cents.
And I will only say Hollywood has lost all creativity, if they decide to remake The Dark Knight.
I think Hollywood’s problem is that they remake GOOD films. They’ve taken films that were good the first time and turn them into bullshit. Halloween, Psycho, the list goes on and on. The remake of Prom Night just pissed me off.
The Departed is so far the only remake I loved. Others have been very poor or just terrible. Hollywood needs to start remaking bad films. Now Alexander, that shit should be remade. Not great films.
For example, the amazing horror film [REC] was remade into Quarantine. I didn’t hate Quarantine, but what was the point of remaking it? Also, we got Let The Right One In (amazing film by the way) getting remade too. Why?
As Spanish director J.A. Bayona said, “The Americans have all the money in the world but can’t do anything, while we can do whatever we want but don’t have the money.”
Dark Knight was kind of a remake.
They took the Batman films that dwindled popularity in the 90s and remade them.
And Battlestar was a remake that was great. There is nothing wrong with remakes. And no reason not to revisit a story.
In nearly every film you know who is going to win. The guy gets the girl, the team wins the championship, they get away from the killer, he wins the race, etc. In rare cases they don’t but for the most part that’s exactly what happens.
If you are becoming that bitter about movies, perhaps you need a new entertainment outlet. Like olympic knitting.
Yeah, this is a good idea. Ya know, because that FAME remake sure was oscar worthy.
I don’t know how to really feel about this.
One the one hand, I’m doing a little jig of my own, knowing that they are not going to do the remake of Footloose like High School Musical. In essence, that what it would have been- just set in another location. Nothing really against the HSM, but that’s just what it is. Studio (who pays the bills) wants more focus on story and the characters (!); director Ortega wants more HSM and is running up the budget with no middle ground between them.
A replacement director should be announced soon if the studio still wants this for next year. Either that or….
Well, that’s the other side to my coin. The film remake for now is KILLED. The plug is pulled. Disaster may have been diverted. I wasn’t the biggest fan of the original (although I loved the soundtrack, just like any other 80’s kid) but yes, Rodney, I agree. Footloose was good in it’s day but the concept of it does not entirely fit with the current times. (I even thought it was on shaky ground THEN)
When I think about the film and why dancing-listening to rock (or should I say pop?) music was banned in the town to begin with there was a tragic accident that happened in the film’s narrative backstory where some teens were killed in a car accident; they had just gotten back from a dance and snuck in a few drinks, got behind the wheel. Being a strong Bible Belt community, the Reverend had some influence over the local politicians who attended his church, a law was passed.
But the “kids” still found ways to bend those laws, or go outside of town to get a groove on, so it was a slight deterrent but not entirely effective. Despite not being a fan of the film, I liked the fact that they didn’t demonize the Reverend; you understood where some people were coming from.
But then after caving in, after finding common ground with the desire for the kids to have a dance, after getting a small victory? What do the kids do? They violate such contract and put everything they fought for in jeopardy and get away with it! It was then, I looked back on what I just witnessed on the screen and said to myself, where’s the nearest record bonfire? Can all prints of this film be added to the flame?
The soundtrack was fairly decent though.
Still, Footloose remake RIP.
Good riddance!
They were going to make Kevin Bacons character a black kid and he would move into a white town and low and behold he would bring happy and joy to all the racist white people who have illegalized ALL dancing and getto music not to mention that not one of those nasty white racist can dance either - lol -It is no wonder the director split due to the “tone and directions” of the film.
Some remakes are worthy of the original. But I don’t have high hopes for the remake of Footloose. I don’t like the casting so far, but I am glad Kenny Ortega’s ideas were shot down and he left. The original movie was not a big musical. Good luck to those involved. Chase Crawford and Julianne Hough may want to go into hiding if the movie ends up being poorly made.