In what you’d hope would be a late April Fools joke but apparently isn’t, Moviehole reports that a plan to remake Hitchcock’s classic To Catch A Thief is springing back to life. However what makes it almost unbelievable, is that Josh Stolberg, writer of the fun but hardly incredibe Piranha 3D (along with Good Luck Chuck and Sorority Row) has been set to write the script. Oh dear.
It’s a very odd development, especially as Hitchcock’s films have generally been left alone when it comes to remakes, other than the failed shot-for-shot Gus Van Sant Psycho, and pseudo do-overs such as Disturbia (which led to a lawsuit over whether it was based on Rear Window).
Stolberg told Moviehole, “I wrote, with Bobby [Florsheim], a remake of To Catch a Thief for Paramount. Neal Moritz is producing, and its exciting because its one of my favorite Hitchcock movies and it was fun to come at it from a different angle make it a little bit more modern and gadgety. Its the first script that Ive ever written that [encompasses] a lot of heists and action sequences and… it was a blast! Im really excited. We just turned in the script to the studio a couple of months ago and theyre working on casting now. It takes place in Santarini its a travelogue of the most amazing places on Earth.. its gonna be a fun, fun ride I think.”
It’s not the first mention of a To Catch A Thief remake, about a former thief who must clear his name when hes wrongfully accused of getting back into the business, as Paramount has had the rights since 2004. However most had thought the idea had bitten the dust.
As anyone whose seen the original will now, it’s not the plot that makes To Catch A Thief a fun ride – indeed that aspect is pretty cliched – but Hitchcock’s direction and the chemistry between Cary Grant and Grace Kelly. It seems though that Paramount isn’t confident of recapturing that, and so we’ll get something more ‘gadgety’, which knowing Hollywood will have nothing to do with the original, beyond using the name.