Spielberg has given up on his horrible idea to remake the iconic Jimmy Stewart hangs out with an invisible giant bunny movie Harvey, and we have Tom Hanks to thank for it.
It seems Spielberg, wisely, wanted Hanks to take over Stewart’s role. Tom is after all frequently regarded as the modern day Jimmy Stewart. But Hanks, like all of us, wanted absolutely nothing to do with remaking such a classic and already perfect movie. The way Variety tells it, Tom’s decision to do right by Jimmy Stewart sent the whole thing into a death spiral as Spielberg tried to court Robert Downey Jr. and toyed with rewrites on his script until finally giving up.
The movie was supposed to be Fox’s first with Spielberg and the newly repatriated DreamWorks, they even had money and soundstages ready to go. Without Spielberg though, it seems likely that this project is as absolutely dead as it ought to be. Fox will continue trying to get something done with the project but it seems far less likely to happen. So feel free to breath a little sigh of relief, at least until something worse happens… you never know what Brett Ratner will get interested in. But please, don’t let this be the end of it. If you’re one of the many movie fans who has, till now, managed to overlook the original 1950 Jimmy Stewart film correct that mistake this very weekend. Pick up a copy of Harvey, the one and only.
