Toni Erdmann was one of the most celebrated foreign comedies in recent years, so it's not much of a surprise that a US remake was mounted pretty quickly.
While no release date was initially set and the major news was that Jack Nicholson was coming out of retirement to play the father and Kirsten Wiig playing the daughter, there's been precious little else about it since. However, according to a recent interview with IndieWire, there's a pretty good reason as to why. Speaking to Adam McKay, who's acting as co-producer on the film, the script submitted by Girls showrunners Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner just wasn't up to scratch.
As McKay told IndieWire, "it just didn't work out for them." Paramount later confirmed that two new writers - Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg - are now working on a new draft, which has been submitted for approval. On top of that, Lisa Cholodenko - who previously directed The Kids Are All Right - will also be directing here.
The original - which was nominated for an Oscar - focused on an estranged father who visits his daughter in Romania to reconcile with her in his own unique way, which involves him in weird costumes. Yeah.
Here's the original trailer.