By Travis Johnson
Following in the footsteps of Ghostbusters and The Rocketeer, yet another film is getting the gender-swapping treatment, with Australian actress Rebel Wilson is set to star in a remake of the 1988 Frank Oz film, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, for MGM.
The earlier film – itself a remake of 1964’s Bedtime Story, which starred Marlon Brando David Niven, saw two con men – Steve Martin and Michael Caine – compete and then collude to swindle an heiress (Glenne Headley) out of her fortune. It’s crushingly funny, and if you haven’t seen it you should correct that as soon as possible. But that doesn’t mean it’s not ripe for reinterpretation, with this one seeing Wilson competing with another, yet-to-be-cast female scoundrel to woo a nerdy Silicon Valley tech billionaire.
Wilson is also on track to step in for Goldie Hawn in a remake of Private Benjamin.
