COMMENTARY | The idea that Johnny Depp is planning to play Nick Charles in a remake of “The Thin Man,” the famous movies series about a retired police detective and his high society wife in the 1930s and 1940s, is certainly an intriguing one.
William Powell and Myrna Loy played Nick and Nora in the original movies. The role of Nora is yet to be cast in the modern remake.
A passage in a story in Film School Rejects about a rewrite of the script gives one pause, though, about director Robb Marshall’s approach to the remake.
“There’s also some news on what sort of a treatment Koepp will be shooting for, however. Apparently Koepp’s script will be combining elements of the first two Thin Man movies from the 30s, 1934’s The Thin Man and 1936’s After the Thin Man. Marshall is looking to do a stylized, modern looking take on the material, similar to what Guy Ritchie has done with the Sherlock Holmes franchise.”
The original series featured Nick and Nora exchanging bon mots over high balls while solving crimes together. The original film was based on a novel by crime writer Dashiell Hammett and was more lighthearted than the usual detective stories of the era.
The Guy Ritchie “Sherlock Holmes” featured Holmes and Watson performing martial arts as they did battle with the bad guys, with the usual stunt acrobatics that accompany such film sequences. Thus, this leads us to suspect that Nick and Nora will drink and banter less and kick box more.
Using the formula, the villain will not be the run-of-the-mill murderer who popped his wife to make room for his mistress or his grandfather for the inheritance. It will likely be somebody who is trying to take over the world, like maybe a Nazi or even someone really horrible, like a super villain. If Marshall were trying to be funny, it might be someone who is trying to poison the world supply of vermouth, which is something that would horrify Nick and Nora.
There are also rumored to be musical numbers planned. This might be a good thing if it is background or truly horrible if the idea is to make a musical. But we shall see.
Source: Johnny Depp’s ‘Thin Man Remake Reveals New Writer and Some New Details’, Nathan Adams, Film School Rejects, August 30, 2011