Brad Pitt & Margot Robbie - "The Thin Man" re-make?

Just to clarify and to Yoda’s point: I was indeed being sarcastic re marriage, but it is way less common now than in those days, statistically speaking.

https://www.cnbc.com/video/2023/07/1...d-anymore.html

https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/b...les-are-rising

That's how I took it, yeah: just a bit of hyperbole.

I could live with that...love Robert Downey Jr

Oh...OK.

I could possibly see Blanchett in the role, although I'm not sure how she'd do in sardonic comedy. Unfortunately I believe she's a bit old at the age of 54.

Poor Cate Blanchett. At the withered old age of 54 there's just no way I could believe her as the romantic partner of the spry 58 year old Robert Downey Jr.

I took that to be more about the age of Nora rather than the age of her co-star, though maybe only because I can't fathom anyone thinking Blanchett looks her age, at all.

I think the characters, at least initially, are in their mid-to-late 30s, though I can't think of any problem in changing this. If anything I think 40s/50s seems a little more appropriate for all their world-weary wit.

I took it the same way as Tak, for what it’s worth. Going by his first post he tosses out Bale and Law, both of whom are about 50ish, while for Nora he chose Stone, who’s in her 30’s.

Perhaps he'll clarify. Both Downey Jr. and Blanchett look a good 15 years younger than they actually are, anyway.

If that was the way he meant it, then maybe it's a nod to age disparities of that kind being more common when those films were released, though that wouldn't really matter if a remake were set today. Which is an interesting question I guess I hadn't considered before: whether this would be set in the same time period as the originals or not. I guess...probably? And I guess I probably prefer that, though I'm surprised to realize I don't feel all that strongly about it.

I’ll toss out Carey Mulligan, Emily Blunt and Michelle Williams as well.
For Nick, maybe Ryan Gosling. Or perhaps Daniel Craig.

Blanchett could rock it, though, and can easily play a younger Nora.

People suggested for the two roles in this conversation:

Nick
Brad Pitt (60 years old)
Adrien Brody (50 years old)
Neil Patrick Harris (50 years old)
Robert Downey Jr (58 years old)
Christian Bale (49 years old)
Jude Law (50 years old)
Sebastian Stan (41 years old)

Nora
Margot Robbie (33 years old)
Eva Green (43 years old)
Emma Stone (35 years old)
Anna Kendrick (38 years old)
Alison Brie (41 years old)
Gillian Jacobs (41 years old)
Cate Blanchett (54 years old)

In the original film, Powell was 42 and Loy was 29.

We're certainly not breaking any long-standing stereotypes about casting here!

Anyway: I wouldn't mind an older Nick and Nora. If they are both in their 40s/50s, sure. I think their personalities are what sell the fun, not necessarily their youth. But keeping Nora in her early 30s with a 60-year old Nick? Come on.

As I was looking at the list of suggested actors, I was thinking the same thing. You can just tell Nick and Nora are going to be late night party birds into their 80s.

It struck me as funny to quote a suggestion of two actors, one aged 58 and one aged 54, and call out the 54 year old as probably being too old.

Let's compromise: Cate Blanchett can play Nick, Paul Mescal can play Nora.

(EDIT: I thought Paul Mescal was in his early/mid 30s. THE MAN IS ONLY 27! I thought he looked a bit young for his age, but he's actually just a fine looking young person.)

Hammett based the couple on himself and his longtime partner, who was 11 years younger than he was; no idea if that's important to anyone to keep, or if it was intentional in the casting of Powell and Loy (who as noted above, have a similar gap), but interesting to consider.

Personally I don't think it's an important part of the characters. More than just about any characters I can think of, casting them has got to be about vibes.

This is a good one that probably wouldn't have occurred to me.

It’s interesting to me that you all are avidly discussing a 1934 movie & who should play the title rôles today. I’ve never seen any of these movies or tv shows. It’s an example of how far-reaching the threads are in this forum.

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It’s actually a fantastic series of films (I think there are 6 or so?). I’d definitely recommend as they are at times hilarious and very charming

Obviously what someone considers to be well-known is subjective, but I tend to think of The Thin Man as one of the more famous mystery films of the 1930s and of Nick and Nora as one of the more famous "classic couples" in terms of characters.

I know it's not a perfect metric, but in terms of the number of IMDb ratings it's the 24th highest from the 30s overall, and the 3rd highest "crime" film behind only M and The 39 Steps.

It's always interesting how to one person something is widely known, while someone else might consider it somewhat obscure and vice versa.

If you haven't seen them, highly recommended. There's arguably too many of them. I'm not sure if they're all worth the time. But I'd definitely watch the first few. Witty, charming, cozy mysteries.

And yeah I would not have considered them obscure at all, but as Takoma says, everyone's got little nooks and crannies in their viewing history like that.

To tell you the truth I can honestly say I have never given a thought to “The Thin Man”. I had to wiki the entire history. I vaguely heard of Nick & Nora & that they had a dog.

I definitely avoid very old movies. GWTW from 1939 might be the oldest movie I’ve seen & that is an outlier. I’ve seen “Rebecca” from 1940 several times. I like it a lot.

Perhaps I will take @Yoda’s suggestion & watch the first movie.

Actually, I was about to say Blanchett is a shame because she would be perfect but is too old for the role, which she is by the way, and then I saw the Downey recommendation and thought, oh come on, just as perfect but he's freaking ancient at this point and cannot even be considered. Absolutely not. And then saw that he's only 4 years older than her.
They are both way too old for this. I could go, maybe 40-45 but that is as far as I will go. Would much rather see late 30s to early 40s. And no de-aging crap!

All this said, if we are gonna go with old fogies (I am 51 by the way), my choices for Nora are Charlize Theron or Gwynneth Paltrow (don't care how kooky she is, this is a good fit for her).
As for Nick, believe it or not, I am actually feeling Chris Hemsworth. I love his comic timing and easy, winning smile for this kind of thing.
Hemsworth/Theron, I think, is my choice.

Edit: I have reconsidered and this is what I really think. I think Blanchett is simply too perfect for the role and it needs to be her... with Hemsworth.
In the films, she's the source of all their wealth and he's actually kind of her charming boy-toy who just happens to have been this legendary detective. I think this particular couple tracks perfectly with that.
Blanchett/Hemsworth, final answer.