In announcing his involvement in the "Prom Night" remake, Idris Elba also revealed the new hook for this version. Instead of one slash-fest, this "Prom Night" has two, and Elba’s detective character has to investigate both.
"This is the second time he’s going to go through this whole thing," said Elba. "Some of it’s in flashbacks, so I rreally wanted to show the difference of confidence that’s been taken away from a detective that has to deal with multiple homicides."
Though horror remakes are de rigueur these days, Elba has confidence in "Prom Night." "It’s actually going to be really, really interesting. It’s a young director, Nelson McCormick, his first feature. His background’s in television and he has a really original idea of how to turn what we can call a slasher movie into a really good psycho thriller. So I’m on board and some really good actors."
Elba is even doing a ride-along for character research. "I’m researching now, all the time. Next week I’m actually going on a real drive with the detectives. They’re going to go to something similar to what happened in the film, and just check it out."
The original "Prom Night" (1980) starred the dynamic duo of Jamie Lee Curtis and Leslie Nielson. The Screen Gems remake, due out February 2008, will also star Brittany Snow, with a script from "Better Luck Tomorrow" scribe Ernesto Foronda and "Grudge" screenwriter Stephen Susco.