Screenhead

The original True Grit is a classic in every sense of the word.  The cast alone (Kim Darby, Glen Campbell, Robert Duvall, Dennis Hopper, and of course, the great John Wayne) puts it in everyone’s library.

Now, it’s in remake mode. Yikes!  None other than Joel and Ethan Coen will put their spin on True Grit, the iconic Western that won John Wayne an Oscar.

But Variety is reporting that it’s not a traditional remake, the Paramount film promises to be more devoted to the Charles Portis book than the 1969 movie.

Then I ask, why call it a remake?

Anyhow, Portis’ novel is about a 14-year-old girl who, in company with an aging U.S. marshal and another lawman, hunts down her father’s killer in hostile Indian Territory.

But while the original film was a showcase for Wayne, the Coens’ version will tell the tale from the girl’s perspective. Of course, the Coens wrote the screenplay.

Chances are with the Coens’ power we’ll see the movie in production, but let’s not call it a remake.