Remake Redux

So speaking of adaptations and remakes, yesterday I was recovering from The Streets show/after party by watching Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor in the adaptation of Tenessee Williams' play Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. (The movie was supposed to be filmed in b&w but after casting, the director argued that it would be crazy not to shoot in color given the violet of Taylor's eyes and the blue of Newman's.)

Anyway, I was thinking that it's about time for a big-screen remake of this movie. There've been two T.V. versions, Robert Wagner/Natalie Wood and Tommy Lee Jones/Jessica Lange. But who would play Brick and Maggie now? Natalie Portman is beautiful, but she doesn't have Taylor's fire--an important element in Maggie's character. Renee Z is fiesty, but she's perky rather than sultry. Ashley Judd is gorgeous and southern, but she's too movie-of-the-week. Kidman, too ice queen. As for the alcoholic ex-football player Brick, Matthew McConaughey certainly has the looks and the southern accent.