John Carpenter has been looking back on his time working on Christine, and revealed he only accepted the directing gig because he needed a job.
When The Thing was released in 1982, it remarkably did not receive a positive initial reception from critics and the general public - which seems crazy to think, now.
The reaction ultimately cost Carpenter his directing job on an adaptation of Stephen King's Firestarter novel. Then, Christine came along.
"I know there’s some rumblings about its anniversary. My question is ‘why’?” he said to Total Film.
"I needed a job, frankly. The Thing was my very first studio film. I was just diving in the pool here, and all of a sudden, WHAM. And getting fired off a movie is not the most pleasant thing."
In June of 2021, it was announced that Bryan Fuller of Hannibal fame would write and direct a remake of Christine under the Blumhouse production banner. Carpenter cheekily said that Fuller's version will probably better his own.
"Oh boy," Carpenter says. “Well, good luck to him. It will probably be better.”
Keith Gordon okay with Christine being made
Keith Gordon, who played Arnie Cunningham in the original, believes that Christine could actually be primed for a remake as it was released 40 years ago.
"I think he’s really talented, and a good person to do it," he said of Fuller.
"I mean, I don’t have a negative feeling about people remaking something, especially 40 years later. Christine could be told in a different way and not be an insult to the original. There’s a very short list of untouchable classics that should never be remade – films where their groundbreaking-ness or idiosyncrasy is what makes them special.
"I wouldn’t want to see anybody’s remake of Citizen Kane, or 2001, or Raging Bull."
Christine tells the story of a young outsider, Arnie, who buys a 1958 Plymouth Fury which turns out to be haunted, possessing a jealous, controlling personality.
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