For many years there’s been talk of a remake of The Birds, but it’s been trapped in development hell to the point most people had assumed the whole idea had been given up on. However it turns out it’s alive as Universal Pictures and Platinum Dunes have signed up Dutch director Diederik Van Rooijen to helm, according to THR.
Van Rooijen is best known for directing films such as Taped, Daylight, Stella’s Oorlog and Bollywood Hero.
Alfred Hitchcock’s 1963 classic follows Tippi Hedren’s Melanie Daniels, who heads from San Francisco to a small town in Northern California. Things soon get strange when for no apparent reason all the birds begins to attack, with nature seeming to want to take over.
The main problem with the remake seems to have been getting the script right – after all Hitchcock’s movie is rather bizarre, and without his touch it’s going to be difficult for the whole thing not to seem stupid. The likes os Paul Harris Boardman, Scott Derrickson, Juliet Snowden, Stiles White and Leslie Dixon have all worked on the screenplay. It’s not known when it might shoot.