Starman remake? Director Shawn Levy doesn’t think it’s going to happen

Last Updated on August 10, 2021

Five years ago, it was announced that Stranger Things producer/director Shawn Levy would be taking the helm of a remake of John Carpenter's 1984 sci-fi classic Starman (watch it HERE). At the time, it was said that Levy would be producing the film alongside Michael Douglas (who also produced the original) and would be directing from a screenplay by Arash Amel (Grace of Monaco). But now Levy has revealed that he doesn't think the remake is going to happen.

Speaking with Collider, Levy said the Starman remake is on the "far horizon" – at best. 

… or you could say unlikely. The upshot is that I'm not going to touch that phenomenal movie, unless I feel I have something new to say or a new way to say it. And thus far in the script development of Starman, we haven't gotten to a draft that feels worthy of remaking that title."

The original Starman was written by Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon, and the duo crafted the following story:

When his spacecraft is shot down over Wisconsin, an alien (Jeff Bridges) arrives at the remote cabin of a distraught young widow, Jenny Hayden (Karen Allen), and clones itself into the form of her recently deceased husband. The alien coerces the shell-shocked Jenny to drive him to a pickup point hundreds of miles away, explaining that if he doesn’t meet his mothership in three days, he’ll die. Hot on their trail are government agents, intent on seizing him, dead or alive. En route, Jenny turns from captive to captivated as the alien re-awakens her humanity.

I have seen Starman, but it's definitely one of my least-watched Carpenter movies. The only thing I really remember about it is that there's a scene where Bridges confronts stuntman Ted White, who played Jason Voorhees in Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter. This stands out to me because there's also a "Jeff Bridges vs. Ted White" scene in the thriller Against All Odds, which was released the same year as Starman and Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter.