‘Funny Games’: The movie Michael Haneke refused to make unless his casting demands were met
Not many directors have remade their own films, creating a bizarrely exclusive club of filmmakers who wish to perfect or change something that led to an entirely new version of the story. And given that making any film is no small feat, it’s interesting that when posed with the option of making something new, some directors have chosen to recreate the past, a massive undertaking for something already done. However, in the case of Austrian director Michael Haneke, he had one specific reason behind his remake of Funny Games in 2007, released exactly ten years after the original Funny Games in 1997.
Naomi Watts has electrified our screens through bewildering performances in films like Mulholland Drive, Inland Empire and 21 Grams, known for choosing dark projects that explore emotional strands relating to loss, tragedy and death. And given her ability to draw on the most uncomfortable and upsetting subject matter, it is perhaps unsurprising that the master of darkness and cynicism himself was compelled to work with the actor.
The original Funny Games follows a picturesque family who visit their holiday home in the countryside. They are abruptly interrupted by two young men who decide to play a series of ‘games’ with the family, torturing them for their own enjoyment.
The director links their enjoyment of pain with our own desensitisation to violence as a result of the media we consume, criticising the nature of the film industry itself and the way we use the suffering of others for entertainment. Haneke partly wanted to remake the film due to the original being in German, explaining that the first iteration hadn’t reached global audiences, and by remaking it in English, he hoped more people would see it. However, his main reasoning was that he craved the challenge and excitement of working with a new set of actors, with Watts in particular in mind for the lead role.
When asked about the casting process for the project and why he was drawn to Watts, Haneke said, “Just as I had said that I would only make The Piano Teacher if Isabelle Huppert was in it, so in this case I said I would only do it if Naomi Watts was in it. Simply because I think she is fantastic. Because in my opinion she is the best English-speaking actress in her age group. I had seen her in two films, in Mulholland Drive and then in 21 Grams, and in both cases I thought she was absolutely magnificent”.
The remake stars Watts alongside Tim Roth, reprising the sheer terror and fear of the original couple but in a slightly different way, with Haneke discussing how the unique chemistry of each cast changes the tone of the film, with Roth and Watts seemingly having a completely different on-screen relationship to the first couple despite following the same script.
Haneke’s admiration for Watts is completely understandable given the new levels of distress that she brings to this film, highlighting the paradoxical and nonsensical nature of violence. Haneke creates a viscerally unpleasant and disturbing watch, and the fact that he chose to make this film twice speaks volumes to the film’s message. He hammers in his point ten years later and still carries the same weight.
