How many of you AITH readers have seen Hitchcock’s 1951 classic STRANGERS ON A TRAIN?
To those who have, how many of you deem the picture re-workable for a teenage crowd?
Kind of what I thought. However, it seems Slingshot Productions and BBC Films are currently developing a teen-centric Hitchcokian thriller known as, get this, TEENS ON A TRAIN. I Know, I just threw up a little as well…
TEENS ON A TRAIN, written by Joshua St. Johnson (“Material Girl”), aims for a 2011 shoot window. The idea, which more or less follows the Patricia Highsmith story Hitchcock’s film was based on, was born from a Teen Hitchcock Screenwriting Competition Slingshot spearheaded in 2007. According to Deadline, this version will adhere to the boy meets girl on a train template, this time flipping it so instead of the two agreeing to murder the other’s bane, the girl rather turns out to be an unhinged psychopath.
What else is new?
Okay, so how do we feel about this development? Is giving Hitchcock classics a contemporary spin, a la DISTURBIA, a good idea…or should the master be left alone altogether?
DISTURBIA’S Sarah Roemer!