This evening a friend told me that Stephen Spielberg just announced a remake of “Harvey”, the classic 1950 Jimmy Stewart comedy. My friend challenged me to think of who might be cast as Elwood P. Dowd, the holy innocent whose best friend is a six foot tall invisible white rabbit. Dowd was played to perfection by Stewart first on Broadway and then on film.
We agreed immediately that even ten years ago Tom Hanks would have been perfect for the role – he essentially was Jimmy Stewart for most of his career. But now it’s a bit too late, unless they were to do some sort of digital replacement technique. If it were Zemeckis rather than Spielberg, I suppose we would end up with “Polar Harvey Express”. Although I suspect it would probably turn out not so much polar as bipolar.
Johnny Depp is a possibility, although he seems to have entered his Robin Williams stage – the phase when a once fine player starts to overact and do a kind of “I’ll be your host for this weird movie” thing. It was sad to see it happen to Pacino and Hoffman before him, and I think poor Johnny may have become infected. I believe there is still hope for him, but who can tell? My friend says she thinks Leo DeCaprio would be good, but I can’t see it. There is nothing tortured about Elwood P. Dowd, and Leo simply does not do untortured.
I told my friend I was worried they’d give it to Will Smith – an obvious choice for box office success. But Smith has nothing of Stewart’s deep sweetness and sincerity – you can always tell that Will Smith is acting in a movie, as entertaining as he is, and you can’t get away with that in “Harvey”.
We asked another friend, and she immediately said “Steve Carell”. OK, I can see that, but it would be a shame. You really want a leading man for this role – a genuine movie star with the kind of sexual magnetism that Stewart had – someone you can’t take your eyes off of. And come to think of it (speaking of magnetism) Paul Giamatti would be perfect. But Spielberg would never take the risk.
I wouldn’t feel so bad if they gave it to Brad Pitt – he has the ability to rise to the occasion when given the right role. And he has certainly earned the right by now to play quirky eccentrics (actually he earned that right back in 1995 when he hit one clear out of the ballpark in “Twelve Monkeys”).
Does anyone have any ideas? I’m sure if we put our heads together, we might be able to help out Mr. Spielberg. If not, then my vote goes to the movie actor who might very well be today’s best answer to Jimmy Stewart – Anne Hathaway.
My choice: Edward Norton
He even looks like Jimmy Stewart.
I was just about to say Ed Norton but someone else said it first!. Norton is a great choice.
Jude Law of course
Of the two, I prefer Ed Norton to Jude Law. Norton has that same quality that Stewart had of being able to combine enormous charisma with an absolutely innocent sincerity. Jude Law is very charismatic, but he tends to come across as worldly and knowing. The part of Dowd seems to call for a guileless “holy fool”, somebody who need only start talking for people to find themselves pulled into a kinder and gentler reality.
Come to think of it, Ryan Gosling showed that he had much of this same quality in “Lars and the Real Girl”, in case Spielberg is looking to cast younger.
If you want a real treat, watch this clip from 1938 with Jimmy Stewart and Jean Arthur in “You Can’t Take It With You”, in which Stewart’s character extolls the wonders of solar energy. Notice the casual intimacy and erotic energy the two of them generate within a simple innocent conversation – all done in a single five minute uninterrupted take, I might add.
Sigh – they don’t make them like this anymore.