Jude Law wants to be Michael Caine so much that it's embarrassing to watch sometimes. It explains the Alfie remake, the way that Jude Law had a voodoo curse put on Mark Wahlberg for getting The Italian Job over him and also the new Sleuth remake.
You remember Sleuth? No? It was an old movie based on a play, and it starred Michael Caine and Laurence Olivier. And now, somewhat inevitably, it's being remade into a brand new version of Sleuth to be directed by Kenneth Branagh and starring Michael Caine as Laurence Olivier and Jude Law as Michael Caine. Confused yet?
If we were Michael Caine, we'd be worried at the way Hollywood is systematically remaking all of his old films. Sylvester Stallone did Get Carter, Mark Wahlberg did The Italian Job, Jude Law did Alfie and now Jude Law is doing Sleuth too. However, if we were Michael Caine we wouldn't necessarily be worried because our iconic role as the definitive British film actor of the mid to late 20th century was being endlessly scratched away by this sea of remakes – because all of the remakes have been shit – but because eventually some bastard's going to remake The Hand, and that'd be the last bloody thing we'd need.
But at least in the freshly announced Kenneth Branagh-directed remake of Anthony Shaffer's Sleuth, Michael Caine has bagged himself a plum role; he'll be playing the role that Laurence Olivier took in the 1972 original, while his old role will be given to dull-as-a-bastard nanny-boffing, Sienna on-and-offing Official Whipping Boy Of 2004/05 Jude Law. Comingsoon reports:
Financing was arranged by Castle Rock, and the film will shoot in January at Twickenham Studios in London. It's the second time Shaffer's play is getting movie treatment, and the second time Caine is playing a major role in the drama that revolves around two men vying for the same woman. This time, Caine will play a brilliant thriller writer and social fixture who's so upset at losing his wife to a young hairdresser (Law) that he hatches a complex revenge plan. Caine played the hairdresser in the original and Laurence Olivier played the writer.
Surely after Sleuth Jude Law will want to get his Michael Caine remake hat-trick. And, come on, you want to see Jude Law in Jaws: The Revenge just as much as we do.
Read more:
Branagh Directing Sleuth Remake – Comingsoon
[story by Stuart Heritage]