Ron Howard and Brian Grazer Want to Relive ‘1984’ with Street Artist Shepard Fairey

By  · Published on March 22nd, 2012

Not only is George Orwell’s “1984” a formidable classic on paper, it’s also iconic in film form as well. Now, according to The Hollywood Reporter, Imagine Entertainment – the production house led by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard – wants to take another stab at it on the big screen.

Apparently they’ve been hunting down the rights alongside graffiti artist Shepard Fairey and LBI Entertainment’s Julie Yorn. It’s unclear why Fairey was involved in the process, since he isn’t traditionally involved with film production past the point of designing posters and appearing in documentaries. It also seems unlikely that Howard and Grazer would need Fairey’s assistance in getting the rights from the Orwell Estate, which means that the partnership is based on something creative and far more fascinating. Although, the THR piece says Fairey was “instrumental” in the deal being struck and might get a producer credit if and when everything is finalized.

The big question, of course, is whether this is a necessary remake or re-adaptation or whatever they’d like to call it now. It seems wholly uninspired, especially when the 1984 flick starring John Hurt was such a fantastic vision of the book. What’s to be gained by following in its big footsteps?

Movie stuff at VanityFair, Thrillist, IndieWire, Film School Rejects, and The Broken Projector Podcast@brokenprojector | Writing short stories at Adventitious.