Kimberly Peirce has apparently gotten taste for remakes, and now she’s feeding her hunger. Though currently hard at work on a reboot of Carrie with Chloe Moretz and Julianne Moore, the Boys Don’t Cry and Stop-Loss director already has revealed that she’ll tackle a U.S. version of the French hit With a Friend Like Harry next.
Variety says Maven Pictures will produce the remake of the original film, titled Harry, He’s Here to Help in France. A Palme d’Or nominee from 2000, Harry took home Cesar Awards (France’s version of the Oscars) for Best Actor and Best Director. The plot centers on a husband and father who, while vacationing with his family, encounters Harry, an old schoolmate who he really doesn’t remember. But the longer Harry hangs around, the more it becomes obvious that he’s going to be a problem.
The Hitchcockian plot doesn’t sound terribly original, but Peirce can bring brooding style and malice to juice up the premise. Also, casting will be crucial for the roles of Harry and Michel, the family man whose loved ones end up in danger.
Here’s a twist: Variety says Prison Break and Resident Evil star Wentworth Miller will handle adaptation duties. Miller recently wrote Fox Searchlight’s Stoker, a horror-drama Chan-wook Park plans to bring to theaters in 2013. Perhaps Maven and Peirce read that script and liked what they saw? As for Maven, the company’s first feature, Imogene, will star Kristen Wiig, Annette Bening, Matt Dillon, and Darren Criss in a comedy that’s set to premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.
