Sixty-six years ago, Creature from the Black Lagoon director Jack Arnold teamed up with author Richard Matheson to bring Matheson’s sci-fi novel The Shrinking Man to the screen as The Incredible Shrinking Man (watch it HERE). Now Deadline reports that Picture Perfect Federation Chairman Patrick Wachsberger, who was formerly the Co-Chairman of Lionsgate, is working with La Vie En Rose producer Alain Goldman on a French remake of The Incredible Shrinking Man that is set to star Jean Dujardin, who won an Oscar for his performance in the lead role of the 2012 silent film The Artist – which also happened to be the Best Picture winner that year.
The Wachsberger-produced CODA just won Best Picture last year and La Vie En Rose earned an Oscar for star Marion Cotillard, so this remake has multiple prestigious names attached to it.
Universal Pictures released The Incredible Shrinking Man in ’57 and still holds the rights to the property, so they have some involvement in this remake. Wachsberger says there’s a “great screenplay” in place and Jan Kounen (My Cousin) will be directing the film, with production scheduled to begin in May.
Deadline reminds us that the original movie charted the story of a man who begins to shrink because of exposure to a combination of radiation and insecticide. With medical science powerless to help him, brushes with cats, mouse traps and spiders become a matter of life and death, all while he grapples with a diminishing sense of self.
The film starred Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent, Paul Langton, Raymond Bailey, William Schallert, Diana Darrin, and Billy Curtis, along with Orangey the cat.
We’ll have to wait and see what the Incredible Shrinking Man played by Jean Dujardin will have to deal with.
Are you interested in seeing an updated, French version of The Incredible Shrinking Man with Jean Dujardin as the title character? Share your thoughts on this project by leaving a comment below.
While the title makes it sound like an adventure movie, the original The Incredible Shrinking Man is surprisingly dark and serious. It will be interesting to see if the French remake sticks to that tone or if it’s going to take a different approach.