Everything We Know About Elizabeth Banks' Girls Just Want To Have Fun Remake
The title "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" has been attached to several pieces of media over the decades. The best-known version is the Cyndi Lauper song, which came close to topping the pop charts when it came out in 1983. Lauper's tune, however, was a feminist remake of a 1979 song by Robert Hazard.
Lauper's single was so popular in the 1980s that it spawned dozens of other professional artists to record or sing their own versions. And in 1985, it also inspired New World Pictures to put out a romantic comedy of the same name that starred Sarah Jessica Parker and Helen Hunt. The film did a modest $6.3 million at the box office relative to its cost. It arguably could have done better if Lauper allowed her song to be used in the film — she refused, however, and Hazard's original version was used instead. Despite that, the feature has left enough of a mark via cable television re-airings that it's getting the remake treatment almost 40 years later.
Who is working on the Girls Just Want To Have Fun remake?
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the production company Village Roadshow is pushing forward a remake of the movie, with "The L Word: Generation Q" showrunner Marja-Lewis Ryan co-writing the script with "Generation Q" staff writer Allie Romano.
Elizabeth Banks, fresh off the high of "Cocaine Bear," is also producing with Max Handelman through their company, Brownstone Productions. Executive producers include Alison Small for Brownstone Productions as well as Jillian Apfelbaum, Tristen Tuckfield, and Nic Gordon from Village Roadshow.
Things are still in the early days for the movie, so we don't have any news yet on who will be reprising Hunt or Parker's roles, much less the rest of the cast, who in the original film included Lee Montgomery, Jonathan Silverman, Ed Lauter, and Shannen Doherty.
What is the Girls Just Want Have Fun remake about?
The original movie centers around a girl named Janey Glenn (Parker), an army brat who finds herself moving to Chicago, where her favorite show, "Dance TV" is shot. Janey soon befriends Lynee Stone (Hunt) another hardcore "Dance TV" fan at her new school, and the two go to try out for the show despite Janey's father forbidding her to do so.
At the auditions, drama ensues: Janey strikes up a romance with dude dancer, Jeff (Lee Montgomery) as well as a rivalry with rich girl Natalie (Holly Gagnier). The movie ends with Janey and Jeff in a dance-off against Natalie and her partner. Janey and Jeff win (of course), and Lynee congratulates them as Miss Dance TV, having taken over hosting duties after the former Miss Dance TV quit.
According to THR, the remake will "keep the celebration of female friendship, the humor and the heart, plus the dance numbers." Given the talent behind writing it, I can't help but hope that this modern retelling will make some of the queer subtext that has become connected with the original, actual text.