Casablanca Remake

Casablanca is a movie that helped to define the history of cinema, and one that is so culturally significant that many movies still pay homage to it, even unintentionally. This 1942 film, is a romance centered around re-connection despite vast distance in time and location. The film is also timed to be affected by the still very real events of the Second World War, giving it a realistic gravitas not found in many other films of the era. This combination of timing with current events of the day and with a timeless story helped to cement Casablanca in the canon of cinema.

To remake such a film would allow us to see it in a new lens, one of our own cultural zeitgeist of political upheaval, rising tensions, and political disparity, while bringing a much needed story of unity back to the big screen. A remake of this movie, unlike other remakes of more recent films, would be far enough detached that not too many viewers would have a personal attachment to the original film, which buys such a remake a flexibility rare afforded in the industry.

I propose a Casablanca in which a disillusioned man, distraught by his own life and his country leaves the States looking for fresh perspective elsewhere in the world, and settles in a Mediterranean locale opening his cafe, helping refugees to escape to the States, in fear of their own homes. It is here he sees a woman he loved at one time, who is travelling with a new partner who is there on business. Federal agents, who have been trying to shut down the operation to help reduce the flow of illegal immigrants into the US start to take notice at this same point.. The rest of the plot would go as to be expected, twists and turns changed due to the updating with the times, but the core of the plot, the reigniting love of our protagonists,would take center stage.

I also propose that Michael Fassbender, and Gal Gadot play the leading roles of this film, as I believe they have not only the acting skills, but also the appearance to pull the classical, idyllic beauty that resides in the original film. There is an air of debonair and charm to Humphrey Bogart that I believe Fassbender can emulate, and Gadot strikes audiences with a timeless beauty that fits such a timeless story.

To those that want to see this story be given another chance to shine and warm the hearts of audiences, I do hope you join me in petitioning Warner Bros. Studios, the original makers of this film, to bring this story back to the big screen once again for a new generation to love and appreciate.

We, the undersigned request the Warner Bros Pictures initiates action towards the remake of the classic 1942 film Casablanca.