What’s that you say? You can hear a mournful klaxon howling in the distance? And now it’s turning into a sonar ping? That might be because someone has decided that Wolfgang Petersen’s legendary U-boat drama** Das Boot** is ripe for a remake.
German studio Bavaria Film, which backed the original, has been raiding its archives and announced the plans for a new version of the tense film, talking to Blickpunkt about the idea, with Variety picking up the details.
The original, for those who have never seen it, starred Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Groenemeyer, Klaus Wennemann and Hubertus Bengsch. Based on Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s novel, it dives you straight into the claustrophobic world inside a U-Boat during World War II, as the craft patrols the Atlantic Ocean and its crew contends with long stretches of boredom interspersed with terrifying moments of combat.
As the battles rage on, the weather worsens and supplies dwindle, Prochnow’s captain struggles to keep his own motivation afloat as his crew morale sinks to a new low. Petersen’s film scored six Oscar nominations and the story was later expanded into a six-part miniseries that remains one of the most effective portrayals of submarine life on screen. There are no details on who will be brave enough to attempt to steer out of that long shadow...