MY MOVIE WEEK with Mike Shaw

News reaches us this week of a pair of European remakes. The first is a Hollywood take on French film The Intouchables.

Bridesmaids’ Paul Feig has adapted the screenplay from Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano’s original story about a rich white man paralysed after a hang-gliding accident, who hires a young black man to be his caretaker. As is the way of these things, this odd couple eventually find that they may have more in common than they first thought.

The Weinstein Company is behind the remake, and Colin Firth has been toying with the lead in the story, which is Oscar-bait if ever I’ve heard it. Lined up to direct is Tom Shadyac, who directed Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar and The Nutty Professor. The film is going to be rushed into production, so expect to hear lots about it later in the year.

The second remake is the hit German comedy Kokowaah, which Bradley Cooper plans to direct and star in. The big show off. If Cooper does take on the English-language version, he’ll be following in the footsteps of Til Schweiger, who co-wrote, directed and starred in the original – the sequel of which has just opened in Germany to great acclaim. Kokowaah looks at the relationship between devoted dad Tristan and easygoing bachelor Henry, who are forced to re-evaluate their lives after learning the truth about who the father of Tristan’s eight-year-old daughter really is. Can you guess what happens?

Is there anyone working today better suited to play Cinderella than Emma Watson?

Kenneth Branagh is in place to direct Disney’s live-action version of the classic tale, and his favourite to fill the glass slipper is the erstwhile Hermione Granger. This version is part of a cycle of new Disney live-action fairytales and traditional stories, which includes Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland, Sam Raimi’s Oz: The Great And Powerful, and the forthcoming Maleficent, starring Angelina Jolie as Sleeping Beauty’s nemesis. Since the Harry Potter saga came to an end, Emma Watson has been avoiding kids’ films, but if any role is enough to get her back into the family-friendly genre, then a fairytale princess should be it. This would also be her first starring role, with her post-Potter work to date all being part of an ensemble. The film is currently in pre-production, with a 2014 release on the cards.

One of Watson’s Hogwarts classmates is being kept busy, too. Daniel Radcliffe has just signed up to play hunchbacked assistant Igor in Fox’s new take on Frankenstein.

Written by Max Landis (Chronicle) and directed by Paul McGuigan (Push, Lucky Number Slevin, Sherlock), the film is not a straight adaptation of the Mary Shelley’s novel and has been labelled as more of a “sci-fi take” on the story. Quite what that means, I don’t know; Frankenstein is already pretty sci-fi, so...added Bigfoot?

Of course, Igor doesn’t appear in the source material (he originated in the early movies) and his character has changed dramatically through the ages and various cinematic outings, so it will be interesting to see what approach Landis has taken to the character. All that’s known so far is that he’s pathologically dirty and dressed in old clowns’ clothing. Fox has fast-tracked Frankenstein, so if your dream is to see Harry Potter wearing a red nose and caked in filth, your luck is in.

I knew it...honest!

Due to an overseas trip, my column last week was written before Oscar night, so this is the first opportunity I’ve had to gloat in print. Or, rather, mope, as my predictions this year were not very good at all.

The fatal flaw was not listening to my gut and following the odds – something I invariably shy away from.

It’s easy to say afterwards, but I KNEW to go for Argo as best film instead of Lincoln. I KNEW to give Ang Lee best director over Spielberg, but did I listen? Did I hell. Other Mike thought he knew better. Next year. Next year I’ll be back to 100%.