The original was trailed by its creator, Alfred Hitchcock, with the promise that ”It could be the most terrifying motion picture I have ever made.”
Now, almost 45 years after the release of The Birds, a Hollywood remake is in the works.
The new film will star British-born actor Naomi Watts and be directed by Martin Campbell, who made Casino Royale, the last Bond film.
However, the new version of the Daphne du Maurier short story that inspired Hitchcock’s celebrated film about an attack by birds in a Californian coastal town has already run into opposition.
Tippi Hedren, the star of the original film, which was released in 1960, has spoken out against a remake. Speaking in Los Angeles this week, Hedren, a model who was given her first acting role by Hitchcock in The Birds, said she thought Hollywood should come up with new ideas.
”A couple of years ago, when they were first thinking about it, they called and asked what I thought about a remake of The Birds,” she told MTV.
”And I thought, Why would you do that? Why? I mean, can’t we find new stories, new things to do?
”Must you be so insecure that you have to take a film that’s a classic, and I think a success, and try to do it over?”
The new version of The Birds is not the first time Hitchcock’s work has been revisited. Director Gus van Zant made a poorly received shot-by-shot remake of Psycho in 1998. – Guardian Unlimited Â