I’ve got a riddle for you all: how do you best remake a classic? I’ll go ahead and give you the answer – you don’t. So why anyone would try to re-do Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca? Didn’t we learn our lesson after that second Psycho?
That’s right, we are getting a remake of Rebecca, a story of Gothic manipulation, murder, and mystery first written by Daphne du Maurier. The novel was then adapted into the classic 1940 film of the same name by legendary director Alfred Hitchcock. Netflix and Working Title Films are now looking to do their own take on the story.
Screenwriter and frequent Matthew Vaughn collaborator Jane Goldman will be penning the script, which makes me think it might be a more stylized adaptation of the book given her work on the Kingsman and X-Men series. Ben Wheatley is set to direct, best known for another literary adaptation, but of the dystopian novel High Rise, which was also very stylized.
We even have our lead actors. Lily James, fresh off of Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, will play the new Mrs. de Winter, and Armie Hammer will play her husband and head of Manderley Maximilian de Winter. No other word on who else will be cast in the different roles.
If you’ve never seen Rebecca, I do highly recommend it. The story follows a young woman in Monaco who meets the handsome Mr. de Winter. The have a brief courtship before returning to his home in England. However, not everyone likes the new lady of the house, particularly Mrs. Danvers, a housekeeper who continuously tortures the main character psychologically by comparing her to the first Mrs. de Winter i.e. the titular Rebecca. But what did happen to Rebecca? What other dark secrets awake our naive young bride? You’ll just have to watch and find out.
