VARIETY: Naomi Watts set for 'Birds' remakeMartin Campbell in talks to direct for Universal
By TATIANA SIEGEL, MARC GRASER
Posted: Thurs., Oct. 18, 2007, 1:26pm PT
Naomi Watts will star and Martin Campbell is in negotiations to direct Universal's new version of "The Birds."
U is planning a reimagining of Daphne du Maurier's short story, which inspired the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock classic.
Michael Bay, Andrew Form and Brad Fuller will produce through their Platinum Dunes shingle, while Peter Guber and Cathy Schulman are producing for Mandalay Pictures.
U is not looking to rush the pic into production prior to a possible strike.
Stiles White and Juliet Snowden wrote a version of the script that is still being developed. New scribes may be brought aboard.
For the moment, Campbell's and Watts' dance cards are already filled with other projects.
Campbell is attached to Fox's runaway train actioner "Unstoppable" and crime thriller "36" at Paramount. He most recently helmed the latest James Bond installment "Casino Royale."
Watts, who will next be seen in Warner Independent's "Funny Games," is filming "The International" and will follow that up with First Look's adaptation of Amy Sutherland's "Kicked, Bitten and Scratched: Life and Lessons at the World's Premiere School for Exotic Animal Trainers."
Mandalay's David Zelon and Jonathan Krauss will oversee for Mandalay. Scott Bernstein is overseeing the pic for U.
Labels: film, film industry, good luck buddy, hitchcock, martin campbell, naomi watts, remake, universal
I'm sure this isn't the most elaborate commercial ever made, nor is it the most expensive, but it could be the nerdiest. For reasons known only to Freixenet and Scorcese, the ad is a 'experimental preservation' of a never-filmed, thought-to-be-lost Hitchcock script fragment. It's fun, especially for Hitchcock geeks. See how many references you can spot!
