Rebel Wilson to Star in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels Remake

Posted by on August 5th, 2016   Filed under: Comedy, Remakes
Source: Variety

rebelwilson

Although the recent Ghostbusters reboot is still struggling to break even at the box office, the floodgates are now open on gender-swapped remakes in Hollywood. Over the past week we’ve had announcements about new versions of both Splash and The Rocketeer and there are already a few others in the works including Road House. Now we’ve got yet another one to add to the pile as MGM is reportedly developing a remake of the 1988 comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. The original starred Steve Martin and Michael Caine as two con men competing to swindle an heiress out of her fortune, but the remake will feature two female con artists instead. Hit the jump for more details.

According to Variety, Rebel Wilson is attached to star in a new version of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels for MGM. She will play one of two women attempting to scam a “naive tech prodigy” out of his fortune. No director is currently attached but the screenplay was written by Jac Schaeffer (TiMER).

While the idea of remaking Dirty Rotten Scoundrels at all might upset some, the original film was itself a remake of the 1964 film Bedtime Story starring Marlon Brando, David Niven and Shirley Jones. Switching around the gender roles should at least offer a new angle on the material, although it’s not like we haven’t seen movies about female con artists before (Heartbreakers anyone?). Are you a fan of Rebel Wilson and do you think she can carry a new version of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels?



  • Jr

    Excuse me, I need to go to the vomitorium.

  • lovke

    Sounds like it could be fun assuming she takes on Steve Martin role. If they can find a sophisticated Michael Caine type (i.e. Helen Mirren), could be really good.

    Also, this characterization of the “floodgates” being opened is a little hyperbolic. Hollywood has and continues to remake everything. It just so happens they are remaking movies from a time when white men were in everything. White men (this may be a surprise to some) do not actually make up 100% of the population. So it makes sense if they remake these old movies that only had white men, that some of the new movies would have other groups reflecting basic demographic realities (ie 50% of the population are women!). It makes sense then that 50% of the remakes would be led by women. And as for those longing for remakes with characters who retain their original gender or ethnicity I give you… Batman, Captain America, Hulk, Han Solo, James Bond, Superman, Tarzan, Lone Ranger, Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Ten Commandments (Exodus: Gods and Kings), Poltergeist, Ben Hur, Man From Uncle, Addams Family, Mad Max OR reboots that star white men… Jurassic World, Mission Impossible, Terminator, X-Men First class, Salvation/Genisys, Transformers, Planet of the Apes… weird no outcry for any of these… in fact its never even mentioned because of course white men are the default norm and everyone else are interlopers …

  • Matt Thephotoman

    Well of course

  • She’s funny, but it’s crap casting, Michael Caine & Steve Martin have older classy guy sex appeal needed to pull off the con, she does not. Gimme some Diane Lane & Kate Winslet, some ladies with class.

  • No one important

    I’ve been outcrying for all the remakes and reboots. There is no need for any of them. If anything, changing the gender justifies the need for a remake because it’s a unique spin on the original idea. But it’s not. It’s just another remake or reboot when it would be have been better to just invest in something new and original.

  • Matt Gaffney

    Should be a ton of fun.

  • JD Martin

    So they’re remaking Heartbreakers?

    The scene where Michael Caine is whipping Steve Martin in the legs is one of the funniest scenes of all time. The pacing and editing are brilliant.

  • Hollydsauls

    <<o:u. ?????????????????????????????????????????????????????:::::::!!bz64a:….,..

  • mikeyt34

    Yes, very funny scene, but I always lean to the whole “Ruprecht” sequence as my favorite. DRS is so underated, it’s really brilliant.