June 22, 2005
The Departed altering Infernal Affairs too much?
A story today from IMDB on Infernal Affairs remake The Departed by Martin Scorsese makes me more nervous than ever about the remake.
Jack Nicholson helped re-write the script for his new movie with legendary director Martin Scorsese, because he felt the sex scenes needed spicing up....According to reports, the actor wanted to make his character - an Irish-American gangster - a little more like himself, and more of an animal in the bedroom. A source tells the New York Daily News, "Jack didn't feel there was enough Jack in his character. Jack actually did some of the writing himself." The insider adds of the sex scenes, "Jack suggested using a (prosthetic appendage). He also wanted to dust the a** of one of the actresses with cocaine. Marty said, 'Go for it!'" A Warner Bros spokesman adds, "It's not at all uncommon for dialogue to be fine-tuned during production. Everyone is extremely pleased with the way this shoot is proceeding."
I have to say I'm getting more and more nervous about this remake. The original is handled so well and really is a true mix between Hollywood and the superb talents of Asian cinema. It's a fantastic and quite delicately balanced movie, and I fear the big egos and talents involved are going to Hollywood-ise it too much and tip it over the edge.
If you haven't seen the original, check out my upcoming review, when I finish watching the multiple audio commentaries, at my review site. It's a superb movie, and one of my favourites to date, full marks across the board.
Is anyone else out there concerned about this, especially if they've seen the original? I'm convinced this movie is going to go way too far towards Hollywood and tip the scales losing the excellent balance of the storyline.
Posted by at June 22, 2005 06:20 AM
Comments
Posted by: Jenny at June 22, 2005 09:25 AM
Marty said "Go for it!" made me laugh.
I was slightly worried about this but I'm just going to see it with an open mind instead of pointing out all of the changes.
Posted by: Joseph Simmons at June 22, 2005 10:28 AM
Well that's what we're all about here, talking about movies, so I'll keep posting I'm afraid Joseph!
I think it is important though, especially to understand how much has changed before making a decision to go see it, or leave it to a rental.
Posted by: Richard Brunton at June 22, 2005 11:22 AM
I still think this is going to be a great movie. Great people involved all around. But I don't think it'll be all that faithfull. Which is fine , cause most movie goers wont know its a remake , and they arent even using the same name.
Posted by: Pudie at June 22, 2005 11:57 AM
Actually, I would like them to go further from the original...I have the original film in my collection when I want to watch them, I have no issue with Scorcese and Co. using the idea as a springboard for a totally different film...it would wash the bad taste of "Asian remake" out of my mouth...I'm sick of remaking perfectly good asian films because the american market (or the american marketing folk) do not like subtitled films...
Posted by: Triflic at June 22, 2005 01:18 PM
please forgive the incredibly poor punctuation and grammer of that above post! :)
Posted by: Triflic at June 22, 2005 01:19 PM
Well obviously The Departed will be a departure from Infernal Affairs. I guess it's not a remake at all. There were NO sex scenes in IA. I really liked IA alot and this all sounds terribly unfaithful to the original.
Posted by: 718 at June 22, 2005 02:01 PM
What I find disturbing by this post is the thought of seeing Jack Nicholson in a sex scene, or worse, naked?! Makes me cringe. Who does he think he is Harvey Keitel?? I'm still trying to get his nude scenes out of my head.
*sigh* Why do we have to spice up sex scenes anyway? I'm far from a prude, but if someone wants to see a "spicy" sex scene why not rent an adult movie? In my opinion, most long sex scenes take away from the movie's flow. *shrugs* Here's to hoping it's not too long and that not too much is revealed.
Posted by: Meli at June 22, 2005 04:59 PM
Because Adult films scenes are not spicey, they are more like badly lit plumbing.
A well done sex-scene in a quality feature film trumps a XXX feature for eroticism any day of the week.
Because it is a Top List kind of day at the Movie Blog, here are my top 5 sexy/erotic scenes in a film, in no particular order:
Eva Green and Michael Pitt in THE DREAMERS
George Clooney & Jennifer Lopez in OUT OF SIGHT
Britt Ekland in THE WICKERMAN
Tatsuya Fuji & Eiko Matsuda in IN THE REALM OF THE SENSES
Kathleen Turner and William Hurt in BODY HEAT
And humourous:
Jack Nicholson & Ann-Margret in CARNAL KNOWLEDGE
Gary and Lisa in TEAM AMERICA
Kevin Kline and Jamie Lee Curtis in A FISH CALLED WANDA
just about any sex scene in SHOWGIRLS
That's it, I'm done
Posted by: Triflic at June 22, 2005 09:55 PM
I like it Triflic...I was going to start a guess the weekly quote kinda thing, but FilmRot have started doing it before I got round to it...
...maybe a different Movie Blog Top Ten every few weeks might be an interesting thing to do.
Posted by: Richard Brunton at June 23, 2005 07:07 AM
From what I hear Nicholson's contract allowed him to make script changes --- a detail Scorsese had to learn on the set. No wonder Scorsese got mad --- so after a while Nicholson got his own mini crew to shoot 'his' scenes, mainly with prostitutes he brought along --- while Scorsese was trying to follow his vision. People involved say it was a nightmare.
Posted by: Walt at September 7, 2005 09:26 PM
Scorsese can and hopefully will edit it all down. I would prefer no sex scenes involving a crusty old man. Sorry to all crusty old men but admit to yourself no one wants to see a saggy old ass. I thank the movie gods for the editing room, now lets hope they use it wisely. As for Jack doing his own rewrites. He is not making a movie about Jack Nicholson. Why care how he is in bed, show how the character is in bed. This is exactly why I like new actors instead of "Stars". When he was starting out do you think anyone cared what he thought the script should say? I think its a good idea to let all involved in the movie making to express any ideas they have that would make the movie better but that does not mean the director has to accept all ideas. Jack put your pants on please. Sorry I have to go, feeling a bit sick now, I think my lunch is coming back up.
Posted by: crackerjack at September 8, 2005 03:42 PM
Does anyone actually want to see Jack Nicholson doing a "spicy" sex scene, much less a "spicier" one? What could that possibly add to the movie? I haven't seen the original, but to those of you who have, are these re-writes necessary?