He's been gone for over 20 years, but now François Truffaut's work is once again heading to the big screen. Well, sort of. Variety reports that New Line is remaking his 1981 film, The Woman Next Door (La Femme d'a cote). Neil LaBute, the pen behind In the Company of Men, Nurse Betty, and The Wicker Man, will handle adapting the film, while Oscar-winner Taylor Hackford (Against All Odds, Ray) has signed on to direct. This will be the first time LaBute writes a feature for someone else. Now of course, he won't begin writing until the WGA strike is over, but Variety says he couldn't resist the offer, which came after Hackford and wife Helen Mirren saw LaBute's play, Wrecks.I understand being allured by great projects, but it seems like making big writing deals while you're striking is really defeating the purpose. I wonder if he'll start writing it now, but only "officially" start later. Anyway, LaBute says: "This is a lesser-known Truffaut film about ex-lovers, long separated, who suddenly find themselves living next door to each other. Each is married. Neither tells their spouse they know each other, and it's a collision course into disaster as they rekindle a volatile relationship, with great passion and suspense. ...Taylor said if he was ever going to remake a movie, this was the one he could do something with." That's not surprising, considering the possibilities with the urges of temptation and rekindling of lust. The original starred Gérard Depardieu and Fanny Ardant as the trysters, but who would you cast in a modern-day, English version?
1. Somewhere, Truffaut is turning in his grave.
Posted at 6:10PM on Nov 14th 2007 by Chelsea