The giant ape of the sea

I'm not that big a fan of remakes because usually it means taking a great film and making a bad one from it (Bedazzled, anyone?). There are exceptions, however: The third version of The Maltese Falcon is the masterpiece and, although it's not fashionable to say so publicly, both the remakes of Cape Fear and 3:10 to Yuma are superior to the originals if, for no other reasons than the actors in those remakes explored the depths of their characters more than the ones in the originals. If Steven Spielberg hadn't concentrated so much on the Tom Cruise-family dynamic, more people would have realized what a potent and often disturbing film his War of the Worlds really was. Finally, while Peter Jackson's King Kong remake, by definition, lacked the originality and Wow! factor of the 1933 version, it was an excellent film, far, far superior to the 1978 remake.

So I think Mr. Spielberg or Mr. Jackson would be perfect candidates to direct a film I think it's time to remake: Moby Dick. In fact, I would rather they (or someone else, I just think it's time for another version of this story) not actually try to remake John Huston's 1956 film, but to re-adapt Herman Melville's novel, much like Spielberg took another shot at H.G. Welles in War of the Worlds. I would also love to see Philip Seymour Hoffman as Ahab and Russell Crowe as Ishmael. With the special effects wizardry those two directors bring to the table, I think either one could make a great Moby Dick. John Huston is one of my favorite directors, but I think (pun intended) he missed the boat with his film.