It would seem that these days, there’s nothing Russell Brand won’t consider remaking. He’s already set to hit our screens in Arthur, and now he’s taking aim at another, not-quite-so-high-profile comedy classic: Rentaghost.
Yes, really. The 80s children's TV show that many of you will recall, some even fondly, about the agency for oddball spooks, ghouls, witches and other supernatural types, really is becoming a film for Warner Bros.
Brand is planning to star and act as executive producer on the film remake, though exactly what role he’s taking is not yet clear. Deadline says he’ll be Fred Mumford (as played by Anthony Jackson in the show), the man behind the temp agency. Yet surely he’d be a better fit for wacky Jester Timothy Claypole?
Rentaghost ran for nine series between 1976 and 1984 (you can get the first series on DVD if you’re too young to remember and really that curious). The signs of a remake were on the wall a couple of years ago when the rights to the show and several others were picked up by production company RDF. Now it’s in the hands of Warners and American film company Langley Park, who are looking for writers who can develop the tone they’re after, which is apparently somewhere between Gremlins and Beetlejuice. We think they’re missing out the vital pantomime joke element.
Here’s hoping they spend millions (and hire Legacy Effects) to create a new version of Dobbin, the pantomime horse that probably cost the Beeb a fiver to rustle up back in the day, so that we can stifle a laugh as the filmmakers explain how it’s “staying true to the spirit of the original.”
Oh, and if there’s one thing we’ve learned from all this, it’s maybe that we should curtail our awesome power for making jokes that turn into reality. Take this story, for instance – and scroll down to the end…