Suspiria remake to be directed by Luca Guadagnino

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

Three years ago, a remake of Dario Argento's 1977 classic SUSPIRIA got very close to happening. David Gordon Green was going to direct from a screenplay he had written with sound mixer Christof Gerbert, a re-telling of the story of 

an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy in Germany but later realizes that the academy is a front for something far more sinister and supernatural amidst a series of murders.

A cast had been assembled that included Isabelle Huppert, Isabelle Furhman, Janet McTeer, Michael Nyqvist, and Antje Traue… And then it all fell apart before production began.

Green and his cast have since moved on from the world of SUSPIRIA, but in June he was quoted as saying that the remake might still be happening with "a great Italian director" at the helm. 

We now know who that director is: Luca Guadagnino, whose eighteen year career has consisted primarily of shorts and documentaries, with a handful of feature dramas scattered throughout. His latest film is the thriller A BIGGER SPLASH, a remake of 1969's LA PISCINE.

Guadagnino revealed his involvement with SUSPIRIA while speaking with Empire at the Venice Film Festival, and had this to say about his approach to the material: 

"[My version] is going to be set in Berlin in 1977. It’s going to be about the mother and the concept of motherhood and about the uncompromising force of motherhood. It’s going to be about finding your inner voice – the title is very evocative on these grounds."

"[It will be] very different. The movie by Dario Argento was maybe a child of its own times. It's very delicate; almost childish. I have a very strong interest in German literature and film, so I think [my] Suspiria will have to focus very strongly on that moment in history, in 1977, when Germany was divided and a new generation was claiming and asking to recognise the debt of guilt that forged the new Germany after the war against the fathers who wanted to deny the responsibility."

A remake of SUSPIRIA has always been difficult for me to wrap my head around, the original is so uniquely Argento that is seems a nearly impossible act to follow. If Guadagnino is brave enough to give it a try, I wish him the best, and will be interested to see how it turns out.