When word first started circulating about a new film adaptation of Stephen King’s famous coming-of-age horror novel, Carrie – one which could potentially star Megan Fox as the infamous teen outcast – the immediate response was largely that of derision, with many people pointing out that the project (in that form) sounded more like, say, the basis for a SNL sketch than an actual movie.
Jump ahead to the present and even the skeptics who immediately wrote off this new Carrie as a pointless remake are admitting: now that director Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don’t Cry, Stop-Loss) and star Chloë Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass, Let Me In) are attached to the project, Carrie is one recycling of an older idea that demands to be taken seriously.
Sony/Screen Gems has gone ahead and marked Carrie down to begin a theatrical release in the U.S. on March 15th, 2013. Coincidentally, that means the flick – which is said to be more of a novel re-interpretation, rather than a remake of director Brian De Palma’s well-known 1976 film adaptation – will hit the big screen almost exactly a month before another controversial updated take on a beloved horror title (Evil Dead) is unleashed.
In response to the release date confirmation, Peirce offered the following statement on her Facebook page:
… I have gone back to the wonderful STEPHEN KING Book CARRIE; I am also modernizing the story as one has to in order to bring any great piece of work written in one era into the next and especially given how very relevant this material is right now. Chloe is going deep into character to get this right….sewing her own dresses, spending time in her closet….and so much more….
In case you missed it earlier this month, here’s a fan-made poster featuring Moretz as Carrie (which Peirce also posted to her FB account):
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With bullying in schools being a hot topic issue right now, Peirce’s comment about Carrie‘s themes being as timely as ever is actually right on the money. It will certainly be interesting to see how the script penned by Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Big Love, Glee) “updates” King’s source material – which is an epistolary novel composed of old-fashioned documents like newspaper articles and letters – for an age where social networking and v-logging is all the rage, especially among high schoolers.
That’s all to say: the way things are taking shape, the new Carrie could be a very interesting examination of the contemporary adolescent experience, filtered through the lens of a horror story – and, with Peirce at the helm, an effectively brutal and disturbing one at that.
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