The Italian Job is a British institution. The Michael Caine classic is a first-rate comedy caper. Endlessly quotable, full of famous sequences, and provider of material for a thousand bad Caine impressions, it is a cinematic touchstone. So, of course, when Hollywood got hold of it, they managed to completely miss the point.
The 2003 remake was notably lacking in laughs as it transposed the action to Los Angeles and built out the cast with Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron, Jason Statham, and Edward Norton. F. Gary Gray directed the remake that made $176 million on a budget of $60 million.
It remains quasi-famous for being a movie where the screenwriting duo, Donna and Wayne Powers, proudly proclaimed they had only seen the original movie once, and where Edward Norton allegedly managed to annoy almost all of his co-stars.
Watching it today, you get the unshakeable feeling that the remake only came into being because the iconic Mini car was re-launched and was still in its “cool” phase, before it became the favoured transport of the kind of woman who thinks going on vacation is a substitute for a personality.
Now comes the news that Spy and Bridesmaids filmmaker Paul Feig – of Ghostbusters 2016 infamy – is reportedly in early talks to direct a sequel to the 2003 remake, not to the original movie. The project is out to writers right now for pitches.
The reports in Deadline are clear that this is a sequel to the remake, not yet another remake.
Feig’s last project was The Housemaid with a $400 million gross, putting him right back in the mix at Hollywood’s top tables.
