Nick Cave Taking On 'The Crow,' So Lady Gaga Should Tackle 'Star Wars'
Posted 20 hrs ago by Kyle Anderson in Music
In addition to being an iconic star in the underground music scene, Nick Cave has also carved out an incredible niche for himself in the film world. He worked on the music for "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," penned the screenplay for the 2005 indie hit "The Proposition" and contributed to the Leonard Cohen tribute film "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man." His most recent project is his most intriguing yet. According to the Wrap, Cave is working on a screenplay for a remake of "The Crow," the 1994 action film directed by Alex Proyas about an undead avenger (originally played by Brandon Lee). The original flick was a Goth-punk asskicker of a movie that was incredibly dark and featured a killer soundtrack (featuring Nine Inch Nails, the Cure, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against the Machine and the Jesus and Mary Chain), and the new version (to be directed by "Blade" and "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" helmer Stephen Norrington) should have the same kind of dark underbelly and cutthroat attitude.
Cave has experience in screenwriting (he also wrote a sequel to "Gladiator" that was never made), but lack of experience doesn't necessarily disqualify the following musicians from dipping into the screenwriting game. Here are six musicians and the remakes they should attempt.
Lady Gaga, "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace"
No, seriously. It'll totally work. Even among hardcore "Star Wars" fanatics, everybody pretty much agrees that "The Phantom Menace" is a mess, full of preposterous exposition, endless scenes of parliamentary procedure and far too much Jar Jar Binks. Considering the elaborate, otherwordly story that Lady Gaga tells over the course of her Monster Ball shows, why not let her dream up some stuff that might actually reset the "Star Wars" universe properly?
Dave Grohl, "Mallrats"
The premise of Kevin Smith's second film — two slackers hit up the mall to try to win back the hearts of their respective exes — is primed for comedy greatness, but the finished product is somewhat airless and flat. Hand the reigns over to the manic, fun-loving frontman of Foo Fighters. He's got a killer sense of humor, a great sense of play and enough heart to totally make it work.
Wayne Coyne, "The Wizard of Oz"
As the frontman for the Flaming Lips, Coyne already builds elaborate fantasy worlds full of wondrous hallucinations and child-like fear. If that doesn't describe "The Wizard of Oz," then nothing does. Coyne also gets bonus points for having written the Flaming Lips' film "Christmas on Mars," still one of the most surreal experiments to hit the cinemas in the past decade.
Diddy, "Scarface"
It's one of Diddy's favorite flicks, and it's dying for a remake. Though plenty of gangster narratives have borrowed elements from Brian De Palma's original 1983 epic, Diddy could lend his particular voice to a brand-new version that updates Tony Montana for the 21st century.
Craig Finn, "Can't Hardly Wait"
The 1998 original is an excellent slice of end-of-the-millennium nostalgia, but it's a little too scrubbed around the edges to be considered accurate. Enter Craig Finn, frontman of the Hold Steady. He already constructs deep narratives about kids getting too high and running into trouble on the comedown, and he would also get to indulge in his obsession with the Replacements (the film is named after one of the band's best songs). Also, that scene where Jenna Elfman visits Ethan Embry feels like it was taken out of a Hold Steady song already.
Katy Perry, "She's All That"
It's an old story that has been remade many times (it's based on "Taming of the Shrew"), but in an ideal world, Perry would do something drastic and unpredictable like reverse the genders of the characters so that two women are betting they can remake a guy. Now that's a movie that could get a green light.
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