From Idea to Script to Sale
Movies from the Heart—Love Affair
Warren Beatty famously badgered Katharine Hepburn into taking the part of the grandmother in this version of the classic love story, Love Affair [1994]. From what I heard, he was relentless—not taking no for an answer after she’d turned him down multiple times. She perhaps thought the easiest way to get rid of him was to just play the part!
Robert Towne rewrote the original 1939 screenplay, Love Affair, which was by Mildred Cram, Leo McCarey, Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart. That same 1939 screenplay was remade in 1957 as An Affair to Remember—with the four original writers credited.
That second permutation, An Affair to Remember, is worth a look. It’s really interesting to look at the 1957 version and compare it to the 1994 version. For one, the ’57 version takes place on a transatlantic ocean liner, while the ’94 version takes place on an airplane.
Take a look at trailers for both of the films:
It’s interesting to look at how they changed the film 37 years later. Probably the major change is the vessel—the ship in the older version, the plane in the newer. Why? Because, basically, nobody travels by ship anymore to cross the ocean. Of course, there are still ships that go across the ocean to get you from Europe to America, or vice versa, but they serve a relatively small population, while millions of people travel by air. So to make the newer version contemporary, air it was.
If you have the chance to look at both films, you can see many ways in which the ‘94 version was altered to make it more contemporary. And it’s also interesting to note that neither filmgoers nor critics really liked this version of the film.
Here’s an exercise for you: if they were going to remake this film today, 30 years after the ’94 version, what might they do? From the different vessels in the two versions to the different professions of characters in both versions to a number of other differences, what would a more contemporary version look like?
I like doing exercises like this—you don’t have to actually write the film, you just come up with a plausible scenario for a contemporary version. It’s fun to do and it stretches your creativity.
You can go even further in terms of exercises like this. You might not realize it, but all films released in the U.S. before 1929 are in public domain. And this advances year by year. So in 2025, films from 1930 will be in public domain. This means if you find a film you like that’s in public domain you can rewrite it for a contemporary audience—it’s free game for anyone to rewrite.
Think about it. If you’re having trouble coming up with what you want to write next, why not try for a public domain film and contemporize it for today’s audience. It could be fun and valuable for you as a writer to tackle that kind of a rewrite.
Next week, another “remake” for us to look at: Titanic.
Copyright © Diane Lake
05May24
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Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com