MY MOVIE WEEKwith Mike Shaw

» Such is the success of Green Day’s American Idiot musical that Universal have decided they want a movie version of the hit stage show.

Last year Tom Hanks picked up the rights for his Playtone company, and it’s not a huge surprise that studios have shown an interest given the enormous profits generated by Mamma Mia, even though it’s one of the worst films of the past decade, adored by people who found Love Actually too challenging.

American Idiot uses all the songs from Green Day’s 2004 album of the same name (plus a few others from their catalogue) to tell the story of three friends who take different paths as they try to find their way through modern America. It sounds a bit daft, but seriously, the music is fantastic and the show won two Tony awards and a Grammy. The movie will be directed by Michael Mayer, who helmed the stage version.

What do you think? A good idea, or are there other musicals you would rather see adapted for the big screen?

» Len Wiseman’s remake of Total Recall is progressing nicely, and the director has announced that his wife Kate Beckinsale will be the female lead, alongside Colin Farrell who is playing Quaid (Arnie’s role in the original).

Here’s the plot. Quaid works in a factory for the nation of Euromerica, but after having a holiday memory implanted into his brain, starts to fear that he is a spy for the rival country of New Shanghai.

Once he starts to dig deeper, he realises that he’s part of a much larger conspiracy (cue a flashing montage of explosions, punctuated by orchestra strikes).

Kate Beckinsale’s character Lori was played by Sharon Stone in the original, but the main female protagonist was Melina, played by Rachel Ticotin, with Eva Mendes and Rosario Dawson currently front-runners for the role.

Why is the film being remade? I have no idea. Although the 1990 Total Recall wasn’t bad, a new version that is closer to the source material (Philip K. Dick’s story We Can Remember It For You Wholesale) would be welcome.

Some people are saying that the film is being remade because – although it will have no artistic merit – it will generate money.

But surely that’s not the way Hollywood works, is it?

» I’ve spoken before about my love for The Crow, a 1994 film based on James O’Barr’s cult comic, and while I initially feared that the forthcoming remake would ruin the legacy of the original, the revelation that the new version will have a gritty, hand-held style allayed my fears somewhat.

Also no cause for concern was last week’s announcement that 28 Weeks Later director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo would be taking the helm.

That all changed this week, however, when it was revealed that Bradley Cooper has been linked with the role of Eric Draven, aka The Crow.

Just to help you realise the colossal stupidity of this suggestion, Brandon Lee played Eric Draven in the original, while pretty boy Bradley is in line for the new version.

Don’t get me wrong, he’s great in The Hangover, but he’s not the right guy to pull off a spooky, undead rock star, hellbent on avenging the rape and murder of his fiancee.

Now, however, The Weinstein Company have thrown a spanner in the works that threatens the project altogether.

The Weinsteins, who worked on the original back in their Miramax days, are claiming that there’s a contract which gives them the worldwide distribution rights to a reboot of The Crow, and that Relativity Media (the studio financing the remake) need to back off, like, right now.

Relativity have, of course, rejected the claims, but if this doesn’t get resolved quickly, then it will lead to serious delays. Can’t we all just (forget Bradley Cooper exists and) get along?

» You’ll no doubt have seen the news about director and war photographer Tim Hetherington being killed while covering the fighting in the Libyan town of Misrata.

Hetherington, 40, had been covering warzones for years, and co-directed the Oscar-nominated documentary Restrepo, which followed for 15 months a US Army platoon in Afghanistan.

Whenever anyone dies, it’s all too common for anyone with an opinion to pipe up about how they had a “heart of gold”.

However, I work with someone not prone to exaggeration, and who knew Tim well, so when she describes him as “one of the nicest, most genuine, dedicated people I ever met”, I know it’s not just journalistic hyperbole.

To give you a measure of the man, here is a quote from ABC News’ James Goldston: “Tim was one of the bravest photographers and filmmakers I have ever met.

“During his shooting for the Nightline specials he very seriously broke his leg on a night march out of a very isolated forward operating base that was under attack.

“He had the strength and character to walk for four hours through the night on his shattered ankle without complaint and under fire, enabling that whole team to reach safety.”

You can’t imagine Michael Moore doing that.