Endless Love remake casting took a giant leap forward on Thursday when it was announced that Gabriella Wilde and Alex Pettyfer would be stepping into the roles once played by Brooke Shields and Martin Hewitt, Deadline reported.
The plot of the original focused on Jade (Shields) and David (Hewitt), two teens with a burning passion for one another that is stifled by the fact that David is from the wrong side of the tracks and Jade’s parents oppose the relationship.
All the right ingredients for a doomed teenage love story, and in the hands of novelist Scott Spencer, it was well-received. However, when critics sunk their claws into the movie version, the reception was unforgiving.
Holding a paltry 23 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes , Endless Love was called “a narrative and logical mess” by Roger Ebert; “a whimperingly latter-day Romeo and Juliet with a little pyromania thrown in” by Janet Maslin; and “a notorious disaster” by TV Guide’s Movie Guide .
Despite the beating it took from newspapers and film journals, the original film grossed close to $32 million in 1981 dollars on an undisclosed budget.
(Given the talent involved and the time period, it’s safe to say the budget didn’t come anywhere close to ticket sales.)
Director Shana Feste ( Country Strong ), taking over for Franco Zeffirelli ( Romeo and Juliet 1968, The Champ 1979), will hope the film’s appeal stays universal among teenagers as she attempts to breathe new life into Spencer’s characters.
Everything will hinge on the chemistry of Wilde and Pettyfer.
Wilde may not have Shields’ early star power, but she did land a co-starring role in the upcoming Carrie remake, and she has been considered a finalist for Cinderella , which was recently vacated by Emma Watson .
Pettyfer is known mainly for his role in Magic Mike and will be co-starring in the upcoming Cali .
Will you be giving the Endless Love remake a chance when it comes to theaters, and what did you think of the original film?
