There are several films from the 1990s which are, in my opinion, untouchable classics. Pulp Fiction, The Usual Suspects and Clueless all make that list. Those are three films where I know every line of dialogue off the top of my head. This is dating myself, I know, but I don’t care. I was in high school when Clueless came out and it was a staple. It’s still completely watchable, and while all of the jokes aren’t completely workable in the current era, it still remains an absolute classic. And now… it’s being remade. WHY ARE YOU DESTROYING MY TEEN MEMORIES, HOLLYWOOD?
As if! “Clueless” is getting a remake. Paramount Pictures is developing a remake of its 1995 comedy with “Girls Trip” writer Tracy Oliver producing. Marquita Robinson, a story editor and writer on the Netflix comedy series “GLOW,” has been hired to write the script.
“Clueless,” directed and written by Amy Heckerling, was set at a Beverly Hills high school and starred Alicia Silverstone as Cher Horowitz, along with Paul Rudd, Breckin Meyer, Jeremy Sisto, Stacey Dash, Brittany Murphy, and Dan Hedaya.
No. I mean, I’m all for ladies getting work. But can we not? Part of the genius of Clueless – which I only realized as I got older – was how seamlessly Jane Austen’s Emma could be updated to a modern-day story, written by the brilliant Amy Heckerling. Seriously, go back and re-read Emma and then watch Clueless. The Clueless script one of the most underrated and brilliant adaptations of all time, in my mind. What would be interesting from Hollywood is a refusal to “remake” a classic like Clueless, and instead merely try to do what Heckerling did, which is adapt a Jane Austen story to modern day. Start with the original text of Emma, or Pride & Prejudice, or Sense & Sensibility, or g–damn PERSUASION, and try to adapt it with a modern setting. Can you tell I’m hungry for more Persuasion adaptations?? Why isn’t there a modern-day Persuasion adaptation??
Photos courtesy of ‘Clueless’ promotional images.
No. Just no.
And as you say, there are so many other works they could use this technique on.
No, please.
That said, Paul Rudd can play the same part, cause the man hasn’t aged at all.
Right!? He is the Dick Clark of his generation. Another Rob Lowe. There seems to be a pattern. These guys stay slim and live healthy. Not a bad combo. Redo Clueless, as if…
@Nancy Rob Lowe looks a little plastic, Paul Rudd just looks good.
I just saw him in The Bad Seed on Lifetime….Ha! He looked great (Rob). He does live a healthy life and goes to bed at 9 pm. His sons make fun of him for being so corny. He was a pretty boy who grew up to be a handsome man imo. He’s in his 50’s now. Those blue eyes, love em. See Paul Rudd on Friends and that’s twenty years ago and he looks basically the same. Like TMZ says, good genes or good docs!
Ffs
NOOO!!! It’s a classic, let it be. For the love of that is holy come up with an original idea
I really wish Hollywood would stop ruining so many classics with all the remakes, prequels, and sequels. There’s nothing wrong with originality.
Ditto. I’m not a huge Alicia Silverstone fan, but Cher was made for her. It does seem writers are all having “blocks,” or are plain unimaginative. It’s bad enough with the tv show remakes, but leave movies alone. Be original!!!
When she said “Haitians” wrong lol
Unoriginal, unimaginative, lazy, dully formulaic long past their formula’s success, racist, misogynistic—what ISN’T wrong with today’s Hollywood? They’re dying out, they keep recycling the same scripts (literally, almost) the same tiny number of boring, nondescript, generic actors and storylines, and the same MALE directors and producers, and audiences are getting tired of it fast. In this quickly changing world of human demographics and technology, Hollywood has fallen far behind, and the fact that nearly all of Hollywood is monopolized by men is just one sign of how archaic and unjust it always was. It is not adapting to a changing world, refusing to reflect and embrace a far less static, far less homogenous audience. Because of its refusal to accept this, its movies are becoming stale and tedious to today’s newest generations, which demands, increasingly, the stories of minorities and women to be told, too—as experienced by us, ALL Americans, both genders, not just by wealthy white men. Hollywood must make changes or, literally, it won’t survive, and in a hundred years will be only briefly noted as the place where the art genre of film once flourished—for only one century, the 20th–and died out. These insipid remakes, like Clueless, are the signs that Hollywood desperately needs new blood and real change from the inside out, to have any kind of revival. Sadly, I don’t foresee that happening.
Pride and Prejudice had a brilliant Bollywood update in the movie Bride and Prejudice with the lovely Aishwarya Rai playing Elizabeth Bennett and Martin Henderson playing a dashing Mr. Darcy. It was done in 2004 as a Bollywood musical. Nadira Babbar is fabulous as the over-reacting Mrs. Bennett, going onto Indian dating websites to search for a husband for her daughters.
Lost in Austen is another update-ish remake from the BBC in 2008 where Amanda, a Jane Austen devotee from modern London, enters the Pride and Prejudice storyline through a “portal in her bathroom, to join the Bennet family and affect events disastrously” (Wikipedia).
When you have great updates like these two productions, why mess with it?
No! No matter how good it turns out (and I have my doubts), it will never live up to the original. Sometimes you gotta just let stuff be.
This is CLASSIC. I LIVED for this when I was a 90’s kid. Honestly, nothing will ever top the original. I love the fashion in this movie to THIS DAY.
Team Dionne she was my fave
At best, this remake will be a full-on Monet!
Persuasion is my favorite of all Jane Austen. I love it. I was blown away by Austen writing a second chance novel for a woman who had faded and society thought unmarriagable ie unlovable (for those times). It just reads so generous. I love that novel.
Persuasion could be adapted so easily — a soldier from the first or second Gulf war, a female lead from a more conservative culture that laments her being unmarried (Latina? Japanese?)… Now I really want this movie!
👏👏👏👏 Yes! You’ve nailed the updatd adaptation. BBC (I think) has a good adaptation of Persuasion that’s faithful to the novel and captures Austen’s intent, but not an edgy new interpretation by any means.
I’m in. Can we get someone to fund this movie?
The second Bridget Jones book is an adaptation of Persuasion, and it does a much better job than the first book did adapting ‘Pride and Prejudice’. No one really seemed to notice it when the book came out (probably because it’s inspired by a much less popular book), but the parallels are quite clear, and cleverly done. Advice from overbearing friends becomes self-help books, there’s a scene where a woman injures herself by jumping off a structure, etc.
Why, why, why, why, WHY???? *Facepalm* *Headdesk* #howaboutsomeoriginality
You speak for all of us, JadedBrit.
Sorry, the 90s weren’t that long ago that we need a remake, what are they going to remake next, American Pie? Something about Mary?! *sarcasm*
That’s the dumbest shit ever but why should we be surprised. Hollywood can kiss my lily white ass.
That’s way harsh, Tai.
I don’t understand, what would be the point? It was such a specific period Of time the 90s, the Valley Girl. these aren’t things that would translate now in 2018. This makes no goddamn sense!
Agree that a straight remake doesn’t make sense.
But the lead producer and head writer are successful Black women. So I’m thinking the remake might be more like an update, with a more multicultural cast and story-telling lens.
You’ll never get the combo of a cute Silverstone, a very young Brittany Murphy, a relative unknown Paul Rudd, and the unsung scene-stealer Dan Hedaya.
Plus you had The Bends-era Radiohead playing in the background, which Cher called “complaint rock.”
Magic.
That movie was perfection. Leave it alone!
Is the flannel shirt thing a nod to the crispy Seattle weather, or are you just trying to stay warm in front of the refrigerator?
Persuasion would be so great to update now. Frederick as a tech guy who dropped out without consulting his gf…yes.
“Get out of my chair!”…still cracks me up every time.
Yes!! “Get out of my chair!” is classic. I love how Brittany Murphy just pops up out of the chair like she’s on fire. Ha ha ha!
It’s so shameful that they want to excise the late, very sweet Brittany Murphy from the narrative. Really shocking.
Nooooo! Leave Clueless alone, Hollywood!!!!
Looking for a reason they would do this is like looking for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie.
Shhhh… Don’t give Hollywood ideas – no one needs a remake of Encino Man.
Or Son-in-Law lol.
The movie’s been doing what any normal movie would do. Sending itself flowers and candy, just so Hollywood would see how desired it was.
They really should remake Sporadicus instead.
Hahaha
@HoopJumper, I was already dying but now I’m dead. No more rollin with the homies for me. 👻
You should try watching Ren and Stimpy instead, they’re way existential 😉
Ren and Stimpy are a staple in my house. In fact, every Christmas Eve the boys have to watch the tearjerker episode where Stimpy loses his fart cloud, Stinky, and abandons Ren to find it. 😐 Yeah. I’m so very proud.
Do you have any idea what you’re talking about?
No. Why, do I sound like I do?
Perfect.
Yes! Haha
Lol. I like what you did there 😉
Yeah, this will suck. As far as modern day Austen adaptations go, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries (a Youtube series) is, to me, one of the best. It has a few years now, but it’s still absolutely relevant. The book is great, too!
Yes it matches Emma so perfectly we studied them together in high school as a sort of comparative literature task. That and Bridget Jones vs Pride & Prejudice
You’re high school sounds awesome!
No! All these remakes, sequels and reboots are proof that Hollywood is running out of ideas for new movies and TV shows. I love Clueless, and it should never be remade
I was in college majoring in English when Clueless was released, and I’ll argue to this day that it’s one of the best -the best? – adaptations of Jane Austen. Hollywood and British production companies love reducing Emma and Pride & Prejudice to silly romances, whereas Emma especially is a commentary on class inequality, which Clueless captures brilliantly. Also, it gave us Brittany Murphy.
And while we’re on this topic, Emma ends up marrying into her own family because who else is good enough for her? But that was common enough 200 years ago, so we accept it. The Clueless adaptation with Cher losing her virginity to her older (ex) step-brother who her own father loves as a son is creepy AF. But they made his character such a puppy dog played by the eternally adorable Paul Rudd that we’re totatlly fine with it. No way a remake can navigate that with such finesse.
This is so sad. I love this movie and watching it with my daughter as a way of explaining the 90’s to her was such a joy. The 90’s was such a special time. Post cold war, pre re 9/11when it seemed like like the world would just keep getting better and more progressive. She loves Cher and we re-watch every so often when we need to snuggle and block out the world. This is a classic and needs to be left alone.
This is so weird because just yesterday I was in my car and the Kim Wilde Kids in America song and it made me think of the remake of it at the beginning of Clueless. I thought to myself they’ll never remake Clueless because it had such a 90s vibe and it wouldn’t be as good set two decades later. Guess I was wrong! Ugh I’m so tired of remakes. Action or horror reboots are fine but remakes of already great movies seem pointless. However I did like the recent A Star is Born- so what do I know?
NO!
You look confused…
well, I thought they declared peace in the Middle East
Some of the best lines ever.
Donald Faison!!
No!!!!! The best cast, era and fashions! You can’t remake or replace that! Pls no!
UGH! AS IF!!!
WHATEVER!!!!
Sigh. Why!? The original is PERFECTION. I too was in highschool during this time (I’m 42) and I am NOT ok with people stealing everything great about the 80s and 90s.
Hollywood needs to expell these lazy execs who choose to do sh*t like this. On a side note, the latest wave of 90s nostalgia is depressing me (sings that song 999 that just came out sung by people who were 3 in 1999).
As if!
Please nooo!! Leave this perfect movie alone and create something original for a change.
My vote is for Sense and Sensibility as the source material. But then, maybe it’s just because I loved the original. I think those characters could translate really well to teens!
Whatever. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Glad I’m not the only one who can still quote this movie extensively. I was 11 or 12 when it came out and I was obsessed. It’s one of those movies that I will still stop on every time I am flipping through the channels. I guess I could be ok with a more modern, multicultural remake. Like Zendaya or Lana Condor as Cher. Figure out a way to work in modern social media culture. Definitely not a direct remake.
Persuasion is depressing.
No. Just no. Will not be giving my money to go to the theatre or rent or whatever. JUST NO.
I worry that Valley Girl might be next.
There are so many other movies that had a great premise, but failed miserably in their execution. Why not remake them? WHY remake one of the few perfect ones? It is asking for failure, nothing more. I’m out.
Why can’t this country stop with the f**king remakes and reboots? Like, enough IS ENOUGH! 👿
Remake America Great Again 💩
Kaiser, you should adapt that!!!! Write that script girl!
I was 15 when Clueless came out! It’s perfection and does not need a remake.
No, no, no! They already tried a remake; that is, the pale-imitation TV show. The film still holds up and captures the 90’s perfectly. For better or worse, I saw a lot of my friends in that movie and my nieces and nephews love to watch it to make fun of the fashions and slang. It was satire but not in a cruel way; the characters, especially Cher, were basically good and likable. Dan Hedaya was perfection as a the gruff, lawyer daddy.
Many of Jane Austen’s films could be adapted to a more contemporary setting. Leave Emma alone!
I watched clueless the other night. It is a great antidote for these times. But why remake it?
Also Persuasion is my absolute favorite of all of Austin’s novels. The scene where the Captain writes his intense feelings for her in a letter in a roomful of people while pretending to write a different note is … truly swoonworthy
Remake of 10 Things I Hate About You coming in 3-2-1…..
There is a modern day Persuasion adaptation! https://www.jeffwjames.com/Persuasion