The original Brad is none too thrilled about MTV’s “Rocky Horror” remake
When asked his opinion of the news that MTV was planning a remake of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” Barry Bostwick, who played Brad Majors in the original version of the film, hadn’t heard anything about it…and once he had, he was none too thrilled.
“Oh, really? That’s a waste of money,” said Bostwick, in an interview with Bullz-Eye.com done in conjunction with his upcoming Spike TV film, “Depth Charge.” “That would be like saying…and understand that I’m not making this as a total comparison, but it would be like saying, ‘Hey, let’s go remake ‘Casablanca’!”
“How are you going to remake it?” Bostwick asked. “Every time it was done on stage, I thought it showed the flaws of the piece. I think it’s a one-off; I don’t think you can repeat that. I mean, look at the sequel, ‘Shock Treatment.’ I never saw that, but it was a miserable failure…even more of one than ‘Rocky Horror’ was when it first came out! That one wasn’t even re-discovered and turned into a cult hit.
“I think films like (’Rocky Horror’) are stand-alones and brilliant for what they were at the time they were done,” concluded Bostwick. “You should just leave those things alone.”
Sounds like a potential disaster.
Very, very, definitely a potential disaster. Still, you never know with the right director.
As Bostwick says, the original material was somewhat flawed to begin with (for me, the movie badly drags in the second half — which I think is a small part of why the whole audience participation thing evolved). Still a really great director who knows how to handle the music — John Cameron Mitchell of “Hedvig and the Angry Inch” fame is an obvious choice here — could produce something fun. He’d make an interesting Frank-N-Furter, as well.
Actually, Bostwick would make a good narrator….
There is absolutely no reason for a reamke. The original is beloved by countless fans and it still plays on theaters worldwide. The only motivation behind this from MTV would not be to improve on the classic. It would be money. Unfortunately for fans thats all that matters to the big studios anymore. If anyone is interested I have an online website petitioning against the remake. It can be found here… http://www.stoptheremake.com/
Yeah, what Matt said. Save the Lips! Stop the Remake! Make a sign or a video and show the world how you feel at http://www.stoptheremake.com
GO BARRY!! I think that it’s a travesty! The film is a piece of pop culture and should be left the heck alone!! MTV go make more of the Hills, maybe the Valleys Eh?
The man is right. I have been supporting the site in Tony’s comment almost since the beginning and while it probably will change nothing it does give us a public voice. Go check it out.
It’s a pathetic attempt to make money by MTV. I almost can’t bring myself to CALL it MTV since it has nothing in common with the old MTV.
The scariest part is there’s rumor of ADDING songs….
Ha! I said the same thing about remaking Casablanca. I’m number 2,045 on the petition, you can read it yourself if you want. You tell ‘em Barry! SAVE THE LIPS! STOP THE REMAKE!
http://www.stoptheremake.com
..and no Meatloaf and no Tim Curry…this is almost as sucky an idea as invading another sovereign nation…Lou Adler should be ashamed of himself..and w/out Richard O’Brien?..dumb and dumbest.
While I agree with Barry, he’s dead wrong about Shock Treatment. It WAS rediscovered and it IS a cult hit. Besides that, it’s not really a sequel.
oh its just silly. barry is right, a part of what makes rocky horror so good is the time it was done in. there where little mistakes and sligh smiles at each other , if it was to be re-made, that whole charm just wouldn’t be there, every movie now days is so polished and perfect, hardly any character what so ever.(apart from angelina jolie movies, i love every one of those!hehe)
*climbs off soap box* lol
SAVE THE LIPS! STOP THE REMAKE!
I’m with Bob. I say bring on the remake. I’m a RH fanatic from way bakc, but it’s a highly imperfect (yet charming) film based on innovative source material that could very well make for a cool remake. If it sucks, we’ll always have the original, and the remake will eventually be forgotten – that’s what almost always happens to bad remakes of classic movies.
I remember some years back Stephan Elliott (sp?), the director of “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” was going to do a remake RH for Fox TV, but it fell through. I don’t recall the same amount of distaste being voiced by the fanbase that seems to be surrounding this attempt. The petition thing is just plain weird.
I’ve been a Rocky fan for years and was really involved in the 90’s and I think doing a remake is an awful idea. The people who often want to do it never seen to get it. Even the play, the best way to see the play is in a small theater with a cast who is doing it just because they love it. The big overblown professional productions always suck all the heart and soul out of it and with Empty-Vee in charge it will be a hundred times worse. I do need to correct Mr. Bostwick on one account, though. Shock Treatment has become a cult hit, especially with the release of the DVD. We used to show it at our Rocky theater to sellout audiences.
(from my petition comment)
I am about to be 17 this November. I have been in love with this movie since i was 3 god damned years old! It is a major part of my life considering my earliest memories are of this film.
The day I found out about this I almost passed out from outrage. I had always said how people were so smart to not remake RHPS, and lo & behold, these douchebags go ahead & do it.
All I have to say is, Im not surprised that the dickwads at MTV were the ones that had to do with this. They can go suck on a bloody stilleto for all I care.
SAVE THE LIPS! STOP THE REMAKE!
MTV is a fuckin trend factory, this is ridiculous. You cant take a classic like Rocky Horror and trun it into some cash scheme. Rocky is sacred and shouldnt be trifled with. I love the faded colors of the movie and its charm and if MTV remakes it its gonna be just like every other awful movie remake of the times.
This will be a permanent smear on Rocky Horror history. There’s no way another perfectly imperfect cast could be assembled, it’s going to be awful. Some TIMELESS CLASSICS should be left alone.
Oh my gosh….what on earth made them decide “oh lets do a re-make..but not let Richard give us the ‘ok’ to do it”.
This has been one of my favorite movies since i don’t know when…I love going out with my friends to the theater with other fans of it and watch them ‘act’ it out.
They show it 3 times where i go to school (once a quarter) and the last time we went my friends and i were all decked out. My one guy friend wore my skirt!! it was so funny….we took i swear hours getting ready and taking pictures…none of us looked like we did…and thats my favorite part…dressing like i would never dress…
Save the lips…and Tim Curry’s Legs
I just read an article with Richard O’Brien’s opinion about not wanting to be involved with this so-called ‘remake’. Kudos for the man who came up with the idea in the first place, for not messing with it in the second place…
But something else bugs me. Rocky was set in an era of Glam Rock. Campy, glittery, wildly outrageous rock ‘n’ roll FUN! You CANNOT remake that kind of vibe. I’m sure if Mark Bolan was still alive, he wouldn’t want to put on his silver lame stretch pants, because the times have changed. One would have to ‘update’ Rocky to fit the times, and what would be so fantastic about a film featuring Alt-Rock, hip hop, or whatever else is popular right now? I say, leave the original magic alone. Do not remake Rocky. No-one asks Bowie to do his old songs anymore, and even Def Leppard understands that good, fun camp only goes so far. So lets get MTV to drop the idea altogether…
While we’re at it, why don’t we get MTV to go back to playing MUSIC VIDEOS like they use to do…
God Bless the FANatics in the world they keep things interesting, however in all honesty, how much lasting harm can a remake really do to a classic especially one with the cult status of RHPS. As has already been said the remake (assuming it’s ever even completed) will likely surface and be forgotten in short order. The true fans and the new fans still clamoring for thier spot in line at the late night showings of the original we love and know so well. I say bring it on MTV, the worst thing that can happen is we get yet one more reason to laugh at what MTV has become, at best the cult gets a bit of a revival and gains a few more fans as they realize how much fun the original really is.
“I ask for nothing”
“Then you shall recieve it in abundance”
We didn’t ask for it, but it sure cant do much harm to something that’s proven time and time again that it will not die.
Rock on!
Stop the remake.
I agree, MTV ruins everything it touches. The only way I would go see the remake is if it were starring the Muppets and Sylvester Stallone played Rocky. Now THAT might be twisted enough to do! Kermie and Miss Piggy as Brad and Janet, Bert and Ernie as Riff Raff and Magenta, and Fozzie as Frank………
Remaking RHPS is entirely pathetic. And potentially bad for future RHPS fans who see the remake, decide it’s terrible, and never give the original masterpiece a chance and lose out on a truly wonderful experience.
http://www.stoptheremake.com
Put this waste of time and money out of its misery.
Wow. What a slap in the face to O’Brien… probably one of the worse ideas I’ve heard in the past few years.
First I feel the urge to state that I actually like Deadboys’ idea about the muppets, that would be rather funny.
Either way, I don’t think MTV should do the remake. Lets face it, part of the whole charm is that it’s awkward, lots of the audience participation is based off of stupid things from the original (muscle twitch, etc), and if it gets “updated” a lot of it will be lost, not to mentioned the sheer amount of “mtv” fans will probably show up to see it, and lets all look at their fan base, shall we? not many who would be seen at the midnight RH shows!
Yes, it could go on, and be ok, or possibly stand alone, or it could completely suck, still raking in the millions from curious fans, in which case it would be remembered as the horrible remake, and it would probably still be rented for years by people wanting to see how badly mtv screwed it up.
And what’s next? as sucky as most shows and cartoons are now, I don’t want remakes of old shows. They just arn’t as good (teenage mutant ninja turtles anyone? or have you seen freakin Kirby?) Lets end this now!
Chumley, while you indeed have a point, take into consideration exactly what Robyn said: it could ruin chances for future could-be Rocky Horror fans to ever want to see the original film.
They DID remake Casablanca…TWICE! For TV, just like theyre doing for Rocky Horror. And guess what…nobody remembers the Casablanca remakes, and the original is still going strong. If the Rocky Horror remake is no good, it’ll go the same way.
Chill out people, who cares???
Better yet, they tried to make a TV SERIES out of “Casablanca”! Can you imagine a weekly “Rocky Horror” series…? Oh, God, I just know someone from MTV is reading this right now and putting together a proposal. Or, worse, VH-1! (”Hey, ‘Rock of Love’ can’t go on forever!”)
I used to do movie posters for a local theater showing midnight movies(they don’t provide posters for second-run movies).
They were set to show “Night of the Living Dead”, I did my usual internet search for images it turned up black and white images from the original classic, and full-color ones from a bigger budget 1980’s re-make.
I was assured that it was the original and used the original images for the poster.
It turned out to be the 1980’s re-make.
People walked out, demanded their money back. We turned off the film half-way thru, ’cause the theater was empty, and that was a shot by shot, by the original director, had a bigger budget and more gore–but none of the tone and creepiness.
I don’t think it should be re-made, I won’t watch it, it will be forgotten, and it will be despised.
Hey, MTV, why not produce an original show? Or like a previous comment said–PLAY SOME FU**CKIN MUSIC VIDEOS!
Amen to what Barry Bostwick said. when Rocky Horror first hit the theatres, it was a flop, but was rediscovered and made into a fantastic movie that is nearing it’s 35th birthday and has a huge cult folowing worldwide, when films like Rocky Horror come out, they cannot be remade as they are part of our history and originals in their own right, to remake it would be a complete disaster, I mean look at Shock Treatment its so-called sequal??
Yes my name is Janet Damn it! You cant remake this movie #1 its a CULT classic. U dont remake cult classics. What’s next Rocky N Roll high school with the Jonas Brothers?! #2 there’s a lot of sexual, homosexual, TRANSexual content that MTV will probably cut out so as to placate the conservative PC parents. #3 they’d probably add a rap in there for the “Making the Band” watching bubble gum generation that couldn’t possibly appreciate CULT things if it aint done by someone called T’Pain or some sh*t.
I hate ppl that say who cares. Then if u dont care, then why click the link and why post a comment. Move along! If u dont care, thats ur deal. WE f’ing care and thats what matters. Dont belittle and insult us w/ ur indifference.
goddammit!!
this is fucking horrible!
im 17 years old now and i remember watching the movie with my dad when i was fucking 6!
i fucking hate mtv!!
someone should suicide bomb thier goddamn studios.
its not like thier doing anything useful!
http://www.stoptheremake.com
That’s all I have to say on the subject.
I met Barry in May of this year and asked him what it was like playing Brad Majors. “It was a lot of fun,” he said. Aside from all the work he’s done in recent years, a majority of his fans asking for autographs approach him with RHPS memorabilia to sign. That alone means something. And yes… he signed an 8×10 photo of him as Brad for me.
Leave cult classics alone!
SAVE THE LIPS! STOP THE REMAKE!
Actually, I was just listening to the audio commentary on the new DVD set of “Spin City: Season 1,” and Michael Boatman talks about how they were watching “Rocky Horror” backstage one day, and Barry came up…and proceeded to join them in doing the Time Warp. Boatman said it was one of the greatest, most surreal moments of his career.
Oh god… Thats devistating, There wanting to pick marilyn manson to replace Tim Curry!
wtf. I mean jeeze he’ll probley make it sadistic and retarded. Ew.
Bostwick knows what he’s taking about.
You cant remake a Cult Classic !
Haha, when I first head they were going to try and remake it I said the same thing.
“It’s like trying to remake Casablanca.”
It’s a stupid idea.
Someone commented on how the remake will be forgotten … is that why the Broadway version of Hairspray has nothing in it’s advertising relating to the John Waters film that inspired it? Instead, we get a comment about the remake of the film, which was only remotely watchable. Oh, and don’t forget the advertising for the remake itself … “A Grease for today’s generation.” … really? How about some mention of the fact that it’s an f’n REMAKE!!!!! Seriously! The original was forgotten before the remake was even shown on it’s very first screen!
No, the advertising for this remake will have no mention of the cult phenomenon. MTV will try to market it to the very same people who turn their noses up at the original, and therefore bleed all of the charm out of it.
Stop the Remake! Save the Lips!
stop this travesty! We all know money is the cause!
MTV can go ****! themselves along with those retarded morons who decided to act in the remake!
You should all get tomatoes in your face! no, scratch that – you should all get stoned!
http://www.stoptheremake.com
WELL YOU KNOW IF MTV IS INVOLVED WITH IT THAT IT’S GOING TO SUCK.
Yeah i think it’d be a big ass waste of time… shit… not the same at all… there’d definitely be no audience participation… and a lot of the things we love to make fun of are just little things in the movie that probably weren’t made to be THAT specific… I really could go on and on forever about this… u just cant F**k with a classic… shit re-making Rocky Horror is worse than when ppl try to dress up as Edward scissorhands for Halloween… effing awful
Maybe MTV is trying to pull a Coca~Cola? If, in making this terrible New Rocky Horror, they gain rights for the original one, when it fails epically (not if, when), they then put out a campaign to re-release the original to more theatres?
I agree with Barry Bostwick whole heartedly. It would be a major disgrace to remake such a movie. I am 23 and grew up on RHPS it always has been my favoried movie and always will. There is no need for a remake. A classis is a classic and could never be better remade!!!
MTV wants this Rocky Horror to replace the original. It’s a scheme to get people coming to an MTV version of the film every week and doing callouts and stuff so that MTV gets a shitload of money and the original is forgotten. That’s not going to happen though. No matter how similar they make it to the original, people are never EVER gonna stop showing the original in theaters…
And them adding their own new fucking songs… It’s as if to say “Our version is better, give US money.” Richard O’Brien wrote Rocky Horror and doesn’t consent to the remake. Doesn’t that make the remake copyright infringement??
I’m going to LOL so hard when the release date for this is set to April 1 2010, and the whole thing turns out to be a huge April fools joke.
Why can’t people ever leave a good classic like RHPS alone? I mean god, no one could EVER play Frank-N-Furter like Tim Curry did, he did one HELL of a show with that.
MTV needs to go fuck a doorknob! Why would they want to remake Rocky, anyway? Do they really think they can make money off of a reamke? There is no way! It’s just going to be a wast of everyones time. Do they think they can make it better? To make it better would be to make it worse! It’s the fact that it had cheesy sets and bad effects that makes it wonderful! The only way Rocky should ever be remade is every Saturday night at midnight with shadowcast. Not bu MTV!
SAVE THE LIPS!!!
Fuck MTV.
With a brick.
http://www.stoptheremake.com/
IF ZAC EFRON LINES UP TO PLAY BRAD I WILL FUCKING LOSE IT.
Here’s my theory :
Things get remade all the time so it was only a matter of time. Sal Piro, the, I think, still president of the Rocky Horror Fan Club, was at the convention in AC, NJ in sept/oct, honestly can’t remember when exactly, and said to give the film a chance. THe first reaction was “What?!”. “-gasp-”, and ‘Traitor!” But after listening to him, the fans seemed to settle down. Yes, MTV is making a mockery of this film. But honestly, I want to see it, I want to see how the music is played out. I think Bostwick, and O’brien to a degree, has too much of a bias to speak on these matters.
I saw The Rocky Horror Show (as it was then called) several times in Los Angeles on stage at The Roxy (Lou Adler’s venue) before it was even a film. People began dressing like cast members, dancing “The Time Warp” in the isles and doing the interactive thing then. The 1975 film was a remake (so to speak) of that, but I will be more forgiving of it because the stage and screen are entirely different mediums. That said, I will admit that as far as FILMS go I am as ANTI-REMAKE as they come. Except… Consider this… How many times has the film already been remade? If you count every time a group of barely talented “shadow casts” with entitlement issues have stood between the screen and a “virgin”, tainting their first viewing of the film forever, I’d say it has been thousands of times the film has been remade. Yet, in many cases, these seem to be the people that are most vocal about MTV not doing a remake. Think about it. I think those people gave up their right to complain about a bad remake the moment they REMADE the costumes, REMADE the choreography, REMADE the performances, etc. etc. ad nauseam. And I include MYSELF in this vast generalization. Then let’s not leave out anyone else whomever shouted at the screen, threw toast, shot water guns, farted and did anything else that undermined the film and made them think they were part of the show. I say just bend over and accept the remake…And if you need a bit of lube to get you through the experience, just imagine you are watching another shadow cast troupe. You’ll still have the original, no one is confiscating all the prints and no one will be forgetting it any time soon and jumping ship to get in line for the remake at Midnight screenings. Truthfully I don’t know which I hate worse… The thought of a remake, or the whining I’m seeing here from people who were not even born yet when the original movie was released. …”It was great when it all began”.
RHPS OG has the right idea. Finally someone who isn’t afraid to tackle the 600 gorilla in the parlor that everyone else has been tip-toeing around lest they wake it. He did kind of lose me there at the end though.
Oh, and P.S. if people don’t the idea of remakes, they should just do what THE HORROR DRUNX (an anti-remake organization) would do: BOYCOTT IT, BOYCOTT MTV, BOYCOTT ALL THE SPONSORS, AND BOYCOTT ANYONE WHO HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE REMAKE. Take away the remakers money and you take away their careers.
Just check out http://www.TheHorrorDrunx.com
Hey.. I hate the idea of a remake made by mtv. Anybody who has seen mtv’s programmes lately would totally agree with me.
I played Frank last year and I don’t agree with people who say that any version of the original play or movie performed by any shadow cast troupe is as valid as the mtv’s idea. I REMADE the costumes, the choreographies,the performance etc etc etc… but I think that all these attempts only add up to what RHPS really is… and all those “remakes” are the ones that made RHPS a cult classic in the very first place…
lets be honests… MTV sucks… RHSP remake made by MTV must and will suck… lets just not try to defend something that cannot be defended
besos desde argentina
well said barry. its true you just cant remake something that unique
and especially not friggin mtv they butcher everything they touch. they shouldnt even call themselves mtv because they rarely play music
Can’t O’brian claim his rights and ownership over The Rocky Horror Picture Show and like take mtv to court and sue them if they remake the movie? or did O’brian not put copyrights on it or hand over the rights?
You touch my RHPS I’ll fucking kill you D:< Remakes are a suicide demand. fuckers,
remakes are the death of hollywood. if they wanna reach a new audience, re release it. duh!
Imagine “Whatever Happened to Saturday Night” as a rap, with Eddie as a hip-hopper complete w/ gold chains and baggy pants that fall under his ass. Annoying.
Still interested in a re-make?
How about Marilyn Manson or some other glam-less alt-rocker with too many tatoos slithering around to “Sweet T.”? F’n Creepy, not sexy or fun. I get VD just thinking about it.
still interested in a re-make?
How about Britney Spears or (insert name of the latest blond travesty promoted by MTV here) as Janet, or Zac Efron/Jonas Bro. as Brad?
More? I could go on… but I’m getting nauseous. My only concern is that the younger generation gets confused and is turned off from the original work by the corruption of the re-make. This happens often these days with so many re-makes & re-boots flooding the market due to lack of immagination or exhaustion of our own culture’s mythologies (why we have so many Japanese-spawned horror films these days like the Grudge, the Ring etc..). As a horror fan I reccomended a younger friend to see ‘Carrie’. Later he told me it was’nt any good. Turns out the video rental place only had the pathetic ’90’s remake & not the original ’70’s DePalma film!
The best and only way to “save the Lips” is to slap on some eyeliner, invite your friends and go to the late night picture show and have a ball!
On September 15th of this year, TheWrap.com posted a story that the “made-for-cable remake” was not going through. MTV’s spokesperson cited no reason, but said that it had been “off” the channel’s “development slate for some time.”
A rep for Fox said the decision was made months prior.
Bottomline? To all of us who believe that RHPS is one classic you just don’t go tryin’ to mess with, this is an unqualified win. They ain’t gonna try to screw it up anymore.
I was an acting cast member for years, have been watching the movie for decades, and I can honestly say that EVERY viewing of the movie – even on VHS and now DVD is different because of who the audience is. Who the cast is, both theatrically and shadow-cast, makes a difference, too.
I almost always despise remakes, especially of unusual movies — and nothing gets more original than thousands and thousands of people dressing up, using props, talking to the screen, etc every weekend around the Earth with RHPS.
I agree there could be some good stuff to come out of a remake, but I know more would be lost than gained. I’m happy to see MTV’s remake was canned.
Thanks to everyone who voiced their opinion – no matter what it is – it all shows how much this great one-of-a-kind movie hs touched us all!