Hollywood is at it again, deciding to make an English-language remake of a soon-to-be-classic foreign film.
Deadline is reporting that Will Ferrell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus are attached to star in the upcoming Fox Searchlight film “Downhill,” which is an English-language remake of the Swedish film “Force Majeure.” The film is set to be directed by the duo of Nat Faxon and Jim Rash ("The Descendants," "The Way Way Back") and scripted by “Four Lions” writer Jesse Armstrong.
2014's “Force Majeure” dealt with the patriarchy, what a man's worth is all about in a society that is slowly, but surely empowering women as equals, breadwinners if you will. Telling the story of a man, his family and their chaotic, existential ski trip, which is shaken up by a false-flagged avalanche scare, the film was director Ruben Ostlund's international breakthrough. A few years later, he would win the Palme D'Or for his film "The Square."
Here's what I wrote about "Force Majeure" and its key sequence, for Awards Daily, back in 2014:
"The money shot in Östlund’s "Force Majeure" happens in the first few minutes of the film. It’s a four and a half minute shot that will leave you gasping for air and in disarray about what just happened. A Swedish family dines in an outdoor patio, we overhear people nervously gasping about an innocent looking avalanche coming their way. “It’s a controlled avalanche don’t worry”, says the father. Lo and behold it looks to be more than that as the avalanche comes towards the patio enveloping the screen with whiteness and having the father run for his life without thinking about his family’s fate. Fight or flight response? Or just plain cowardice? Of course our patriarch was right, the avalanche was indeed controlled, but his actions are now questioned and his role as family patriarch is jeopardized.
Criterion's December lineup has some great additions to the library, but the title that jumped out at me is Werner Herzog's "Grizzly Man," which officially joins the Collection on December 8.