After starting out directing comedies, Kevin Smith recently segued into helming genre movies, making such films as RED STATE, TUSK, and YOGA HOSERS, contributing a segment to the anthology HOLIDAYS, and crafting his own anthology with the upcoming KILLROY WAS HERE. He's also planning to make a "JAWS with a moose" film titled MOOSE JAWS sometime down the line.
Over the years, Smith has also turned down the opportunity to work on some high profile genre projects. In the mid-'90s, he opted not to do a rewrite on an existing BEETLEJUICE sequel script that had the concept of BEETLEJUICE GOES HAWAIIAN. Back in December, we learned that he had passed on the offer to remake THE TOXIC AVENGER, as he felt the higher budgeted project was straying too far from its Troma roots.
During a recent episode of the Hollywood Babble-On podcast, which he co-hosts with Ralph Garman, Smith mentioned turning down another genre remake… and this one was quite unexpected. I can understand why executives and producers would think he might be interested in BEETLEJUICE GOES HAWAIIAN or THE TOXIC AVENGER, but what made someone think he'd be interested in CUJO? Is it because he made a walrus movie (TUSK), so maybe he'd want to make a killer dog movie?
The mention of the CUJO offer came up very briefly on the podcast during a conversation about the number of Stephen King adaptations currently in the works and was quickly brushed aside with a joke, but here's what Smith and Garman said:
SMITH: Can you think of other Stephen King shit you'd like to see (made into a movie)?
GARMAN: I'd like to see CUJO done again. Remember CUJO?
SMITH: I thought that was done well enough the first time. But you know what? Here's a little inside info: at one point, somebody called up to see if I'd be interested in writing a new CUJO.
GARMAN: No way!
SMITH: Yeah, I was like, 'I like dogs too much, f*ck you!'
It's been a while since we've heard any news on a CUJO remake. Three years ago, director Lang Elliott's production company Sun Classic Pictures was said to be developing a new take on the material that would have the title C.U.J.O.: CANINE UNIT JOINT OPERATIONS. That does sound like a comedy, so maybe that's why Smith was approached.
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