As every movie geek knows, Dashiell Hammett's "The Thin Man" spawned a swoony series of 1930s comedies starring William Powell and Myrna Loy as a swellegant, Martini-swilling pair of married sleuths. Apart from the fact that this property doesn't need updating, Anne Thompson reports that Johnny Depp has been cast in an update. Who should be his Nora? (Hammett based the bickering, snickering, schnockered couple on himself and girlfriend Lillian Hellman).
Lovers of the Thin Man books and movies know that the attempt to adapt it to Broadway about 20 years ago was a fiasco. Still, because it's a property where the male and female characters are in an imperfectly perfect marriage, it would be fun to watch Depp play verbal tennis with his equal.
My first thought was Emma Stone, droll comedienne of Easy A, who was born with tongue in cheek. Alas, at 22, she's less than half the age of Depp, 47. Kristen Wiig, 37, is a possibility. As are Drew Barrymore (36) and Paula Patton (35).
Your thoughts? Alternatively, your favorite Thin Man scene? My favorite is from the 1934 original. The scene: Christmas morning, after a Christmas Eve party where Nick survived being shot. Nick is on the sofa, tippling something or other, shooting the globes off the tree with a BB gun. Reading the morning paper, Nora trills, "Darling, it says they shot your four times in the tabloids." Nick's riposte: "He didn't get anywhere near my tabloids."
Only one thought -- Ugh. And people make fun of the Rapture/End Times people.— ccjroberts- Rachel McAdams— John Brumfield
- Sandra Bullock. I could see her do this. But then again, I could see her do anything. I guess Depp's "drunken" PIRATE(S) is what got people thinking of him for this role.— garymk
- I'm not sure I'm thrilled with the idea of remaking this series (my favorite movies of all times). Depp didn't do so great, in my opinion, with Willy Wonka. My favorite scene is from the original too where you first meet Nora; she comes stumbling into the bar with Asta and finds Nicky. She asks how many martinis he's had and then orders that amount to catch up. What a woman.— mattmcl
- "Please, serve the nuts. I mean, serve the guests the nuts." I really hope this movie never gets made. They'll get rid of the boozing, and it will be all downhill from there.— MCZ97
- Carrie! Re the idea of Depp channeling the great William Powell, five or so years ago, I might have been excited – around the time when Depp was still an interesting expatriate fringe actor. But, lately, he’s become, well, tiresome. The beginning of the end of my fandom can be traced back approximately to the first of the “Pirates of the Carribbean” films. The last straws were “Alice in Wonderland” and “The Tourist.” I’ve come to the unpopular conclusion that Depp is not as versatile as either he or his fan base seem to think he is. I’d much rather see him take some time off than tackle an iconic character at this point.— Pash
- Wow. The first Thin Man is one of my favorite movies. I would eagerly look forward to Depp channeling Nick Charles, but I don't think anyone could do justice to Nora like Myrna Loy did. That movie is one great scene after another. In my opinion none of the sequels came close to the quality of the first.— usandsix
- Cate Blanchett— shak74
Despite the naysayers, this could be good. If it's funny, it could bring the original some notice from younger folks who've never even heard of it. The real question is whether or not this type of comedy/plot will translate well into contemporary film. It's iconic in part because it was ahead of its time and quite different (as well as simply well done).- Actually, there's a lot of good stuff in the novel that didn't make it to the screen because it wouldn't pass the censorship of the time. Would like to see them go back to the book, but then the problem is that the identity theft plot is old hat in the internet era.— FromNorthernNJ
- @northernnj: The novels emphasized the mystery, the movies emphasized the eccentric marriage.— carrierickey
- Carrie...If you're going to write about something, you might first learn something about it. There are no Thin Man bookS by Hammett. The Thin Man was his last novel. The movies are inventions and subplots spun from the original book.
--craig pyes— pyes - Vera Farmiga, Maria Bello, Tilda Swinton, Laura Linney...If they insist on remaking it, at least choose an actress of substance rather than a big boxoffice name.— donmalvasi
- Of all the suggestions so far (& as much as I like some of those suggested), the only one that really seems like it could work is Cate Blanchett. That pairing would be very interesting.— lwolfe
- The first 2-3 Thin Man movies are among my favorite films. Johnny Depp only recently occurred to me as a possibility to play Nick, but I have long thought that Debra Messing possesses the right mix of class and ditziness (not to mention the perfect upturned nose) to follow Myrna Loy as Nora.— KLang
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