If you’ve ever heard Carpenter talk about the incessant remakes of his films, you’ll know that he really doesn’t give a shit as long as the checks clear.
So if the news that NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM director Shawn Levy is helming a STARMAN remake gives you pause, remember that the maestro himself doesn’t care one iota about what he does with his property.
To be fair, Carpenter isn’t credited on the screenplay to his 1984 film, which had Jeff Bridges as an alien who takes the form of a widow’s late husband and falls for her while trying to escape back to his home planet. So it's not like it's his baby the way ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK and THEY LIVE are.
Arash Amel (ERASED, GRACE OF MONACO) is writing the script, and though Carpenter and Larry Franco won’t be involved, Michael Douglas will return as producer.
I’d rate STARMAN pretty low amongst Carpenter’s 80s output, and the E.T.-esque plot wasn’t exactly a beacon of originality to begin with, so I don’t consider it that apocryphal that Levy (who, aside from the three NIGHT AT THE MUSEUMS, has also helmed BIG FAT LIAR, JUST MARRIED, CHEAPER BY THE DOZEN, THE PINK PANTHER remake, and THE INTERNSHIP) will be tackling a remake. His best two films, DATE NIGHT and REAL STEEL, weren’t amazing, but had enough heart and scale to suggest that he could find something alluring and sweet in the relationship of the young woman and the alien who looks exactly like her dead husband. Still, I wouldn’t expect this to be a deep well of subtext or nuance, considering this guy took one of the stronger ensemble casts of the past few years and ended up with THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU.
Bridges got an Oscar nomination for this role, and casting successors for him and Karen Allen will be the true test of this movie’s viability. Who would you want to see playing Jenny and Scott Hayden in Levy’s remake?
