LogFAQs > #925778477

MarvelousCaptn posted...

Although I decried it at the time, I have somewhat mixed feelings about the Murder, She Wrote remake not going through; granted, the actress they had picked (Octavia Spencer) was waaaaay too young for the role. Lansbury was 59 when she was cast as JB Fletcher and the stories worked because she an unassuming, grandmotherly-like character. Spencer was only 40 and looked like she was in her 30s, which would given things a very different vibe.

It's even worse when you think about how actors and actresses seemed to age faster back in the old days - most actors in their 60s today look waaay younger than an actor in their 60s did in the 1960s (give or take).

As an interesting comparison, Octavia Spencer now is 47(ish), and when Angela Lansbury was 47, she was in Bedknobs and Broomsticks. Comparing that movie to Ma, it seems really hard to internalize the idea that they're the same age. And THAT's an Octavia Spencer who's six years older than she would have been in the remake, and an Angela Lansbury who is 12 years younger then she was when she first started as Jessica Fletcher.

I tend to agree with what Angela Lansbury herself said at the time, though - they shouldn't have called it Murder She Wrote. Had they cast Octavia Spencer to be a different character who solves mysteries, no one would have had a problem with it. As is, they basically courted controversy and burned themselves.

Of course, I've always been of the mindset that Hollywood should stop fucking trying to remake extremely popular older media solely to capitalize on brand recognition like a bloated parasite. Adapt obscure stuff, improve things that were interesting in concept but failed in execution, or establish soft reboot sequels to older works that skip ahead in-universe (ie, sort of like Fuller House or Girl Meets World), but STOP trying to hard reboot established properties with strong cult fanbases (like the Ghostbusters remake, Robocop, or Total Recall). The rate of success is SO minuscule for that sort of thing it's almost never worth doing, and almost always inspires fervent hate.
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