Hitchcock's 'Strangers on a Train' Inspires New Teenage Thriller« FirstShowing.net

If the 2007 thrillerDistubriastarring Shia LaBeouf wasn't enough of a contemporary throwback to Alfred Hitchcock's work inRear Window, another modern teenage-centric thriller inspired by another film by the iconic director is on the way.Deadlinereports BBC Films& Slingshot Productions are developing a thriller with the working titleTeens on a Train, clearly inspired by Hitchcock's famous filmStrangers on a Trainwhich in itself was an adaptation of Patricia Highsmith'snovel of the same name. In this version though, when boy meets girl, he soon discovers that she's actually a raving psychopath. Ah, young love!

In the original film, two strangers meet on a train and agree to murder the person who’s making the other person’s life a misery, but here it sounds like the girl in question is made to be the antagonist. Apparently the idea came out of some Hitchcock-centric scriptwriting competition that Slingshot Productions held in 2007 (I guess if you need ideas for your production company,that's the easiest way to get them). The film, being written byJoshua St Johnstonwill apparently also have influences from the Richard Linklater's dialogue heavyBefore Sunrise.

Interestingly enough this news comes on the heels of a ruling that determinedDisturbiadid not infringe upon the copyrightheld for Cornell Woolrich's short storyRear Windowupon which Hitchock's film of the same name was based. The judge ruled,"the main plots are similar only at a high, unprotectable level of generality."I guess this announcement couldn't have come at a better time.Anyone like the sound of this?

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