I’m surprised it has taken this long but the hockey comedy classic SLAP SHOT is finally getting remade. Universal has set Dean Parisot (GALAXY QUEST) to direct a remake of the 1977 film that highlighted the violent tendencies of the Hanson Brothers. Peter Steinfeld (21) is on-board writing the script with frequent Spielberg collaborators Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall producing (though Spielberg himself will have nothing to do with this particular film). The original film was directed by George Roy Hill and starred Paul Newman as a hockey coach who finds out his team is about to be disbanded on the end of the season. He reluctantly plays the goonish Hanson Brothers only to find out their thuggish tendencies on the ice are exactly what the fans are looking for. SLAP SHOT wasn’t highly regarded on its release but eventually became a cult classic and was later called by GQ “the best sports film of the past 50 years.” Perhaps the only thing giving me pause that this might turn out to be halfway decent is the participation of Parisot who has earned plenty of goodwill after GALAXY QUEST (which even helped me forgive the disastrous Jim Carrey comedy FUN WITH DICK AND JANE).
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