Pete!! The writer's are on strike!! This is the moment you capitalize and take Hollywood!! Me and you, lets roll!!

Wow. It seems like a good movie. I really love Keanu Reeves.

I live near Jennifer Connelly in Brooklyn. I saw her and yelled "Klaatu Barada Nikto!" and she ran away.

OK, that last part I made up.

While I think Jennifer Connelly is great, I can't say I'm super excited about this remake. The director hasn't done much to make me think this is going to be amazing. And Keanu...well I guess we'll see.

This needs to be a big exploding Michael Bay type film. Seriously. It needs to be a very loose interpretation. The original slow, downbeat tone was right for its time, but would be a dead bore today. The less this movie looks like the original, the better.

But the casting does look good all the way around.

Part of what make the chemistry of the original work so well was the combination of brains/beauty/strength exemplified by Patricia O'Neal tempered by the fact that she had a glint of vulnerability in being a single mom concerned for her son's safety.

This played well against Michael Rennie's solid-as-rock, but vaguely foreign presence. As played, Rennie's Klatu was a towering figure both physically and intellectually, but full of enough good humor to be accessible and not just another robotic-sounding "space man".

I don't see Reeve's pulling this off. He can't be deadpan enough without calling to mind his "dude" screen-image, and doesn't have a physical presence imposing enough to be intimidating on any level.

With both Connely and Bates being MUCH better actors capable of bth greater range and subtlety, Reeve's is in trouble.
I loved the original, and looked forward to a skilled remake ... this just doesn't look like it will be it.

Some movies should never be remade - this is one of them. Keanu Reeves?? Puhleeze!

Aw man, I thought this was the one that's supposedly based on Shakespeare's "The Tempest", but it turns out I'm thinking of Forbidden Planet. Jennifer Connelly is supposed to be doing a Macbeth but I can't find much talk of it anymore.

And why is the Rocky Horror theme song running through my head right now?

Wow another remake

Keanu Reeves is perfect as displaced alien, and anyone who can't see that ... well, there is just no helping you. But that doesn't mean this film is going to be any good. The casting news is the FIRST AND ONLY good news coming out of this project. The plot is dated and heavy-handed. The action nil. The director has done nothing inspiring before. Reeves, Connelly, and Bates are the only pieces of good news about this movie. The plot may have gotten 50's audiences hyped, but it is dull as dirt today. No one wants to see a preachy non-action sf movie.

I love the idea of this movie with keanu playing the lead. I saw on another website that there are storyboards which tells me they have really taken this project seriously. I also read that there is a karate set on the premises of the vancouver set. Keanu doing karate fight scenes again would make me melt. I don't know if there is a place for that in this movie but I am just saying. We will have to see what they come up with. It will be a deep thinking movie. All of Keanu's movies are.

The cast sounds good -- especially Jennifer Connelly -- however, I'm wondering how they will portray Gort the robot. Gort, while not uttering a word in the original film, was involved in most of the action scenes. Gort must be fearsome in order for the remake to work. And of course the music is critical to its success. Bernard Hermann's score, particularly in Gort's scenes, was phenomenal and iconic.

The Day the Earth Stood Still is much more than a movie. To many it is a religion. Carl Jung would have loved the connections....

Robert Wise directed the classic movie and grew to become a very important person in Hollywood - He also directed the first Star Trek movie and became the president of the directors guild.

Many well known people in the entertainment and edia industries have mentioned to have had a type of religious experiences when they first watched the original film.

It's very interesting to note that the producer is Erwin Stoff who is Keanu's agent and co-producer of The Matrix. They partnered with the Paul Harris Boardman - Scott Derrickson team for the remake. Paul Harris and Scott are well versed with the realities of spiritualism. They made the Exorcism of Emily Rose which is based on a true story of demonic possession. Devil's Knot is another film based on a true story that Scott is slated to direct. It takes guts to make movies based upon factual demonic possession because the producers have their own fears of what it will do to their mental and spiritual health as well as the inpact it will have on the general population. They are well versed in making message movies indeed.

In the 80', an unknown rock band called Klaatu ( who everybody thought was the Beatles reformed) wrote "Calling Occupants" and this song went to number 1 when released by Karen Carpenter. (In the movie - the alien Klaatu took on the name Carpenter when he came to Earth.)

Ringo Starr stole a frame from the Day Earth Stood Still to use on the cover of his solo album. He even made a music video of him playing Klaatu. The video is available on AOL - just search for - Ringo Starr: Only You


And for those of you that follow the US government's Star Wars (SDI) initiatives - to defend the US using Lasers and particle beam weapons to shoot down invaders, you must take note of the very special message that was delivered by Klaatu to all of the earths inhabitants. His parting message was " We care not about how you run your own planet - but once you threaten to extend your violence (to put your weapons in space) this earth of yours will be reduced to a burned out cinder. Live in peace or pursue your present course and face obliteration. The decision rests with you."

China recently shot down a satelight as a show of technology and power and then warned the US not to develop or deploy space based weapons. ( I assume that they take Klaatu seriously:) It's also interesting to note that the Star Wars Space based program is plagued with disasters.

Releasing movies at the right time (during an election year) can have additional marketing impact. Remember the effect that Oliver Stone had with the movie JFK and the democrats in that election year. Clinton got elected and defeated Bush and the first Stars Wars program was killed.

Now lets look at some of the media build up to a real Alien intervention.

On November 12, 2007, a panel discussion about UFO sightings took place at the National Press Club. It was moderated by Governor Fife Symington with eye witnesses from official government officials from Belgium, Peru, Chile, The FAA, Iran, UK, and the US airforce. The press picked up on this and stories appeared all over the world. This video is available on YouTube. This was all about telling the world that aliens are here. It was a first full disclosure. What are they preparing us for?

How interesting is it that the remake is shot in Vancouver Canada where they shoot another alien saviour - Superman's "Smallville" using the same production facilities. It was also home to the X-Files. It seems that vancouver crews take the subject of aliens very seriously:)

How about - Synchonicity.

Steve Reeves - played the Olympian God Hercules
George Reeves - The first Alien Superman - An alien
Christopher Reeve - The second Superman - An Alien
Keanu Reeves - Now the real Alien Klaatu. He performs in a band called Dogstar which is also known as the star Sirius which was worshipped by the Egyptians. Reeves has said that he believes in astrology, and has confessed to visiting a spiritualist and being impressed by her abilities. Reeves has no quarrel with psychotherapy and has been seeing a Jungian therapist for some years.

He is also a very caring individual. In his contract with the Matrix producers, he gave the crew and special effect department a percentage of the profits.

For those of you that might not think he is right for the part as compared to the original Michael Renee, at least he treats his role and the subject matter seriously.

David Scarpa is modernizing the screenplay. His most well known work was The Last Castle - a movie about corruption in the military and all of his future screenplays currently in production are about wars involving the US.

So, for the fans of the original movie that think it's a desecration to redo something so precious to many - think about the generation of new voters that have never seen it. The voters that want an end to war.

This is a movie that the world needs to see.

I may be a bit late joining this debate, however I have just discovered that two films I adore are to be remade. I can't think of one good remake of a bad film. The Day The Earth Stood Still and The Forbidden Planet are icons, it can only end in embarrassment. Who cares who plays Klaatu. I think Jennifer Connelly is gorgeous and an extremely good actress, however Gort is the character they have to concentrate on. A giant Asimo is not that scary in 2009. Nor or laser beams. The creature from the Id is going to look like every pop video since Aha. Steven Spielberg ruined War Of The Worlds, a good idea is such an easy place to start. I am very uneasy about the whole idea.