Classic romance "An Affair to Remember" to get Japanese remake?

by Chris MaGee

It seems that recently Japan has been getting even with Hollywood for all those past remakes like "The Ring" and "The Grudge" as well as future remakes like the proposed live-action remakes of "Akira" and "Cowboy Bebop". We have already seen the Japanese remake of Alexander Payne's "Sideways" and we reported in October how "The Milkwoman" director Akira Ogata was in line to direct a Japanese remake of Louie Malle's noir thriller "Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows)". Okay, you got me there. That's a French film, but... Now Variety is reporting The Japan Society that japan is going to be taking a crack at another classic film from the West.

Fox International Productions is currently working on a Japanese remake of Leo McCarey's 1957 romance "An Affair to Remember". The original film starred Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr as two star-crossed lovers who meet on a cruise ship and fall in love despite both of them being engaged to other people. As the cruise comes to a close they make a pact to meet each other in 6-months at the top of the Empire State Building after they've extracated themselves from their current relationships. The question is, after a number of obstacles are out in their way, is whether or not they will follow through with their promise to each other.

"An Affair to Remember" was already remade, in a sense, in 1993 by Nora Ephron as it was the inspiration behind her hit romantic/ comedy "Sleepless in Seattle". No word yet as to how this proposed Japanese remake will play with the original source material, but screenwriter Hiroshi Saito, the man behind the hit Japanese romance "April Bride", directed by Ryuichi Hiroki, has been brought on board to adapt this much beloved classic. can it (or should it) be done? have your say in the comments...