The Manchurian Candidate

Question: Hollywood seems obsessed with remakes; just recently they've made new versions of King Kong, Fun with Dick and Jane and Yours, Mine & Ours.  Don't you think this is part of the reason people aren't going to the movies the way they used to? I've seen the originals of all three of the movies I just mentioned, and if I want to see them again I'll watch them on TCM at home, in my pajamas, for free.

Answer: I don't think it's the remakes per se that's keeping people at home: I've seen remakes I thought were terrific, like the recent The Manchurian Candidate (2004). The 1962 original is a great movie, and the remake puts a different spin on the material, which is as timely today as it was then. Remakes bother film freaks (like us), but casual moviegoers often don't even know they're seeing a remake read more

Question: I know you've written about on-set fighting in the past, so I'll ask you about another rumor. Was it true that Jamie Lee Curtis and Richard Lewis fought a lot while they were on Anything But Love?

Answer: Depends on whom you choose to believe, Anne — the tabloid reporters who reported on the supposed turmoil, or the stars themselves. According to the two of them, nothing beyond the usual professional give-and-take took place on the ABC comedy, which ran from March 1989 to June 1992.

"I've never been involved in a show without a few problems," Lewis told TV Guide in 1989. "That's why this so-called controversy with Jamie and me is so laughable. She has a point of view, yes. There is some tension involved, even on the best of shows. We like to joke with each other, and some people misunderstand that. Hey, this isn't Othello. We have read more