SPC picks up Zhang’s ‘Three Gunshots’
Back in April when Zhang Yimou’s next project was announced as Amazing Tales – Three Guns, rumors abounded that it was a remake of Joel and Ethan Coen’s Blood Simple.
When the project got underway in the last week of June, the title had been roughly retranslated to The Stunning Case of Three Gunshots and it was confirmed to be a Blood Simple remake.
Today Michael Speier reports in The Wrap that Sony Pictures Classics has picked the film up for distribution in the US, Latin America, New Zealand, and Australia.
In a joint statement, SPC presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard are quoted as saying “The idea of a remake of ‘Blood Simple’ as seen through the eyes of Zhang Yimou’s masterful visual elegance and clever narrative twists is genius,” but what are we really talking about with a remake here?
When I think of Blood Simple, I think of Texas and I think of a sweaty, too-hot-to-sleep mood and I think of the Coen’s ear for dialogue and I think of the great M. Emmet Walsh and I think of Barry Sonnenfeld’s exuberantly show-offy camera work. To me, those are the things that make the movie memorable and not so much the noir plot full of double-crosses which is the only element I can see making the translation.
That’s not to say the movie won’t be great and that I’m not excited about it. I love Zhang’s Raise the Red Lantern. Though I liked the popular Hero somewhat less than others and Curse of the Golden Flower hardly at all, I still look forward to whatever the guy is serving up. I think it does a disservice to him to overly emphasize the remake angle. I doubt this will be anything like a Coen film and very much like a Zhang Yimou film and I plan to approach it as such.
Filed under: Distribution, News
Tags: Blood Simple, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, The Coen Brothers, The Stunning Case of the Three Gunshots, Zhang Yimou
Well, I’m in the tank for Zhang Yimou. I loved Hero, as well as The House of Flying Daggers and Raise the Red Lantern. And I adored The Road Home, one of his lesser-known and lesser-seen movies in the states.
If Scorsese can remake a Chinese movie (and win an Oscar for it) I don’t see why Zhang Yimou can’t remake one of our movies. Even if it is Blood Simple. It should be interesting and i expect that he’ll give it an eastern twist.
As I said, I have nothing against the film and I’m not being sensitive about someone remaking a Coen movie….hell, they did it with Ladykillers…it just doesn’t feel like a remake in the traditional sense.
I think I’m probably splitting hairs and I’m having a hard time explaining what I mean.
Nevertheless, I’m going to see a Zhang Yimou movie and not a Coen remake when I go to see it.
Me too. The Coen Brothers have their own style and I expect that Zhang Yimou will not try to emulate it. He’ll take the material and add his own twist to it. I hope. :)
Exactly. Yes, it’s a remake, but leading with that fact seems like lazy shorthand that isn’t really all that meaningful.
Again, I’m just splitting hairs really.
Yeah, but the Coens are well known all over the world ever since No Country…
Remaking one of their earlier films provides a better appeal for Zhang’s project. I mean, it will attract a wider audience which is why I believe he does it.
I’m pretty certain that it will not be a remake in the traditional sense of the word. However, I believe that it is a clever move from advertising stand point to announce it as one.
“Zhang’s ‘Blood Simple’ remake” certainly makes for a catchier headline than the one I went with.
Blood Simple is not a well-known nor widely loved movie. Coen brothers fans and critics like it and it did moderately well as a sleeper hit when it came out, but I think Zhang would likely get as much mileage out of simply announcing he’s making a new movie (and it’s a thriller) as he would out of calling it a Blood Simple remake. I don’t think it’s going to really attract that much wider of an audience just because it’s being marketed as a remake, whether it truly is or isn’t.
I’ve enjoyed all the Yimou films I’ve seen (Lantern, To Live and Flying Daggers especially), but I agree with the general consensus. I don’t understand why he doesn’t just do an original take on noir. The characters and plots are universal enough they can be dovetailed to fit any culture. Still, I’m interested to see what Yimou brings to a Coen Bros. remake.
It is a little mysterious WJ, but who knows? Maybe he saw something in it that really appealed to him.
I’m seeing it no matter what.