The last time Jack Nicholson could be seen on the big screen—jumbotrons don’t count—was seven years ago, when he appeared in Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix’s bizarre-o mockumentary I’m Still Here and the forgettable ensemble rom-com How Do You Know. Now, the legendary actor, who turns 80 this year, has announced his return to acting, and though it’s still in the early planning stages, it seems safe to say that his latest project will probably turn out to be more intriguing and memorable than either of those aforementioned titles. As Variety reported on Tuesday, Nicholson will star alongside Kristen Wiig in the American remake of Toni Erdmann, a German comedy-drama about a strained father-daughter relationship that topped the year-end lists of Cahiers du Cinéma and Sight and Sound in 2016, and is up for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Oscars.
If you’ve already seen Toni Erdmann, which is at turns sobering, hilarious, terribly awkward, and touching throughout its near three-hour running time, it’s hard to deny that the remake casting here feels utterly irresistible. Nicholson’s quirky, mischievous persona aligns perfectly with that of the wacky father who gets a kick out of pranking both strangers and family alike with his off-kilter disguises. (It’ll also be interesting to see if he adds an undercurrent of menace to the role in a way that isn’t there in originator Peter Simonischek’s own delightful and endearing, if sometimes unsettling, rendering.) And Wiig, as the unhappy and uptight work-a-holic daughter he seeks to reconnect with, seems like the ideal choice to step into actress Sandra Hüller’s shoes—in previous films like The Skeleton Twins and Welcome to Me, she’s shown her range as an actor who can deftly toe the line between tragedy and comedy, something that writer-director Marion Ade’s script certainly required of Hüller. There’s no word yet on who will direct or adapt the screenplay of this remake, though Adam McKay, Will Ferrell, and Ade are among a few of the many producers and executive producers.
Still, a huge part of what makes the original such a pleasurable viewing experience is how surprising and unexpected it is throughout—the last 45 minutes in particular are brilliantly executed as both a comedy of errors and a dramatic emotional gut punch that seemingly comes out of nowhere. For those who have already seen Toni Erdmann, that enjoyment will likely be impossible to replicate if the script remains mostly intact, no matter how great the new cast. And for those who haven’t, it seems silly, and even blasphemous, to recommend that they skip the original and hold out for the American version knowing as little about it as possible—Simonischek, Hüller, and Ade’s storytelling combined are all just that good.
