I think it could be a pretty good vehicle for Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller. At least Ben Stiller as Felix.
shareI could see it working. I'm probably gonna get crap for this, but another guy who could play Felix really well (not with Owen Wilson as Oscar, though) is Topher Grace.
shareWhy can't Hollywood just leave well alone??
This film is a classic and doesn't need to be remade. Don't tick me off now!
PREACH IT!!!! There is so many good "old" movies out there... Why the heck does Hollywood need to mess with gold by remaking it into CRAP??!??!?!?! If it is remade, all there is is going to be cheesy dialogue and crap like that. Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller... sure these guys are funny but they can't hold a candle to Lemmon and Matthau.
"NOBODY expects the Spanish Inquisition!" Cardinal Ximinez
... The quality of the original speaks for itself.
"Women remember, Steve - it's like they've got minds of their own!"
Yeah no remake for this one. Perhaps another 'Odd Couple'-like movie, but not an actual remake itself tho. Heck, they kinda already did that with Grumpy Old Men, and of course later Odd Couple 2.
shareWhat is it with the 'R' word? And the 'O' word for that matter? Directors and producers don't go about remaking movies just because they think the original was flawed.
sharebonshui,
No, they go around remaking movies because they don't have the talent and vision to think up good new ones.
There just aren't as good writers as there used to be. Same with Broadway.
The musicals are all spectacle to disguise the fact that there are no good songwriters anymore either...
You're lucky if you can leave the theater remembering even one song. Some I forget while it's still going on. The obvious exception being "Mama Mia", because they didn't have to write new songs.
Hopefully it cyclical, like many things are, and we'll have a new Golden Age.
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10 pages of responses on this one thread about a possible remake -- something that can't possibly be redone in this era of simple buffoons as comedians. The era of film art is long past.
shareYeah right - remake a classic movie with at least one of the least funny comic actors in the business - Stiller!! That would work .
Why the mania for remakes(I know the money-but artistically?)
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No remake. This is a great film and had a great sequel. Those are the only two actors that could play the parts and make it as funny as they did. I'm tired of all of these stupid remakes.
share[deleted]
I just watched TOC on cable today, and it would be sacrelige to do a remake. It is pitch-perfect. Perfect script, perfect casting, perfect acting. It's almost 40 years old and shows its age, but who cares? A classic is a classic. And this one is so funny. Comedy is underappreciated in movie awards, but totally appreciated by the audience.
On the other hand, since H'wood likes remakes, I agree with the poster who cast Giamatti/Church. I'll bet they watched TOC before acting in Sideways. Maybe that's one of the subliminal reasons I like Sideways so much: reminded me of TOC.
Wilson & Stiller? Notta chance. I wouldn't even read the reviews, let alone shell out for a ticket.
I dont think Stiller would be very good either
Walter Matthau was great to watch, in my eyes he was never comic/comedian.
He acted seriously, with bizare beliefs,
doesnt matter that his beliefs and antics are ignorant idiotic and insane :)
he believes they are reality and portrays them seriously.
Walter Matthau .... Max Goldman
Jack Lemmon .... John Gustafson
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------AllieF0X on Sat Mar 12 2005 15:52:48
I think it could be a pretty good vehicle for Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller. At least Ben Stiller as Felix.
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When I read that I almost threw up.
The ONLY two actors who could pull off a remake are Nathan Lane and
Matthew Broderick.
Lane and Broderick are doing this on Broadway soon, are they not?
Its funny how age on screen has changed over the years. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau were middle-aged men who looked it in 1968. They both played in "The Odd Couple" divorced or divoricing men with grown children who had been in their marriages for quite a few years. It's hard to picture Owen Wilson, Ben Affleck, or even Matthew Broderick (who is in his forties but looks 22) playing the veterans of long marriages with children.
With re: Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick. I can see either of those two handlng the neurotic neat freak Felix Unger, but Oscar is much more of a slovenly "male animal," more in the range of Bill Murray or Vince Vaughn, it seems to me.
Lemmon and Matthau were legendary. It'll be hard to fill their shoes here.
A remake! A remake!
I can't believe someone would even think such a thing. How do you replace Lemmon and Matthau?
Simple.......you can't!
Leave this classic alone!
You don't seem to mind that Jack Lemmon replaced Art Carney in the transition from stage to film. If great characters in great scripts can be played by more than one stage actor (Matthau was eventually replaced by Jack Klugman on Broadway), what's so precious about cinema - it's all theatre.
shareMatthau originally wanted to play Felix in the play and even begged Neil Simon for the part. Simon said no, he wanted Matthau to play Oscar.
They tried remaking the TV series with Demond Wilson and Ron Glass to give the show an African-American flavor, even using the same scripts. It wasn't the same.
Remake? It's a very bad idea. But I'm gonna go with it, and say reunite Paul Giamatti (Felix) and Thomas Haden Church (Oscar). Neurosis and Narcissism in a nutshell.
Luck favours the fortunate
Oh my god--whoever said Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller, that's an idea I've had for about a year! In fact, I just posted it as an off-topic aside on another IMDB message board (about remaking "It Could Happen To You"). I hope Owen and Ben read our comments and do a remake of Odd Couple. They would be fabulous!!!
Judy
http://sketchgrrl.blogspot.com
http://rawstyle.blogspot.com
www.RawFoodsNewsMagazine.com
How funny. I just agreed with Allie in a post earlier today that Owen and Ben would be great in a remake of The Odd Couple. Now I found a headline and-- better yet--a celeb quote in today's paper in which one of the Broadway Odd Couple guys mentions Owen & Ben in this context!!!
http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2005-09-29-odd-couple_x.htm?POE=LIFISVA
Judy
http://rawstyle.blogspot.com
http://sketchgrrl.blogspot.com
www.RawFoodsNewsMagazine.com
Bill Murray as Oscar and Steve Martin as Felix.
Too old, now, I suppose. But more believably divorced fathers than the younger guys.
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how about a prequel? this one based when Oscar Met Felix, what do you think?
www.geocities.com/rosspaulhewittrobinson1987/enterme.html
A prequel is an interesting idea, and would allow for many younger actors to be considered.
A couple of problems I see:
1. "The Odd Couple" is about a specific crisis period during which two male friends are thrown together to live pretty much as "man and wife" (nothing gay about it, but Felix sure acts like the henpecking wife.) Felix and Oscar in the early years may not have such an interesting crisis. Note: Neil Simon based the play on his own experiences when his divorced brother moved in with him for awhile.
2. "The Odd Couple" is famous as a Neil Simon play with some of his best dialogue. It would be important for Simon to write the new movie, too. On the other hand, I can't remember -- did Simon write "The Odd Couple II," which was pretty terrible given how old Matthau looked by then?
Steve Martin and Bill Murray, now theres an idea. Just imagine Martin as fussy Felix and Murray as the slovenly slob Mr. Oscar Madison :"I told you a hundred and fifty six times, I cannot stand little notes on my pillow"
Yeah!
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