Will Smith to Helm ANNIE Movie Remake Starring Daughter Willow? — Page 3

A lot of this depends on the rest of the casting, the time frame it's set in and whether they re-interpret the score or start from scratch.

The Smiths seriously bug...if Will's aim was to raise kids as smug and full of themselves as he is, he's succeeded and then some.

I am only on board with this if Cee Lo Green plays Daddy Warbucks (a suggestion that I saw elsewhere).

And, ditto to finding the Smith kids spoiled and smug. I couldn't even root for Jaden's character in The Karate Kid remake.

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I'm not sure about this idea-both a remake and having Willow. I think they should leave the original Annie alone, but maybe Willow will do a good job. It also depends on who else is in the movie.

Mo'Nique as Harrigan? Would be hilarious if they were going for an R rating. The shadow of Mary would hang over that casting.

The '99 Annie followed the color-blind "Cinderella" of '97, which, by all counts, was pretty well-received.

I can't see Willow as Annie unless she takes a class in humility. Unless they update and revise the hell out of it, Annie is more "Gosh!" and Willow seems more "harumph."

The son was on ELLEN yesterday and he was irritating to watch. I turned the TV off at that point.

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My thought is why can't they come up with something original to feature her talents? Annie has been done twice. We can see it on video.

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Why on earth would every single person in this movie need to be black because Annie is? Or are all these casting suggestions just "ha ha, black Annie is funny! Let's talk about some more ways black people in Annie could be funny!" Idgi, either way.

I think Annie's being black could be very interesting in certain contexts - someone suggested transplanting it to the '50s or to modern-day, and I think that really any era is OK as long as the movie is conscious of the intersections of race and class in American culture and how that would realistically affect the story. (As much as I love Audra McDonald I HATED her being cast as Grace in the movie remake, because here's Daddy Warbucks hooking up with his black secretary in 1930whatever and that's just fine by everybody happy smileytimes yay!) I think I'm a minority of one on this board in that I like the Smiths, I think they have the talent to support their all-in-the-family productions, I think this sounds interesting and I'm excited to see whether it works.

If, however, they do not get rid of or *substantially* revise the atrocious racist caricatures that are Punjab and the Asp then I am just so done with this whole thing. I can hardly deal with it in the '82 version, and I love basically every other single thing about that movie. Please. No magical Indian. No Asian bodyguard who only speaks karate backgrounded by gongs. Just say no, Smiths.

Updated On: 1/28/11 at 03:47 AM

"and I think that really any era is OK"

Really?! Because the show is a PERIOD piece. You can't just take it out of it's set time period and have it work.

This is a character who is known to millions. If you change everything about the way there character is, it's not the same character any more.


I'll be the one to be an a-hole at this point:

She's going to look like a clown with a red afro on.

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"What did they used to call this sort of thing in the movies in the 1970's? Black-ploitation?"

I don't think this falls into that category.

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I realize this might not be some people's cup of tea, but there is a huge audience out there for this. And if it gets a new, diverse, group of young people into musicals how can it be a bad thing?
I've gotta admit I loved Annie as a kid but as an adult I find it pretty much unbearable. So it's not so sacred to me as it might be to others.

Well, it's a "re-imagining" (Hollywood's latest buzz word).

Annie ultimately does not need to be a period piece. At its heart its about an optimistic orphan who finds a family and teaches a wealthy man that there is more to life than money, namely love.

The only thing they would need to change is the FDR subplot. Given the current recession this could actually be a perfect time for a re-imagining.

Make Warbucks a banker at Goldman Sachs. They can even throw in an epiphany for him when he realizes how the banking industry was partially to blame for causing the financial hardship from which Annie comes.
The ability to add a contemporary social commentary is clearly present.

Hannigan, Rooster, and Lilly would still want to exploit Annie. if anything their scheme could be even more nefarious than in the original.

I suppose the main issue is going to be the score. I would imagine that they will change it a great deal and make it more contemporary. Not sure how the rights will be worked out.
Do the creative team need to approve any changes? I'm assuming that that issue has been worked out though since its clearly moving forward.

So all in all I think the material could easily be adapted.

Having said all that, I am not at all excited for this. Both of the Annie movie adaptations are flat out terrible (imo) and I don't think we need a third.

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Updated On: 2/10/11 at 08:55 AM

No, Streisand is playing Pepper!

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Oh. I thought Will Smiths daughter was playing Pittman.