A remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo may be on the way at Paramount Pictures, with Robert Downey Jr. at its center and Steven Knight writing its script.
Vertigo was originally produced by Paramount back in 1958, and according to Deadline, Hitchcock’s estate favored the studio for handling the new production. The original film starred James Stewart as John “Scottie” Ferguson, a former police detective who has developed a fear of heights and vertigo. After leaving the force, Ferguson is hired by an acquaintance to follow his wife and investigate her strange behavior. It was the first movie to use the dolly zoom, an effect that distorts perspective, mimicking Ferguson’s disorientation.
In the upcoming iteration, Downey will take on Stewart’s starring role, as well as produce alongside his wife, Susan Downey, and John Davis and John Fox. It’s not the only period remake Downey’s been involved with in recent years — the Iron Man actor and Susan Downey are also producers on the HBO series Perry Mason, in which Downey originally planned to star. This summer, Downey will appear in Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer.
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Knight previously created the original series Peaky Blinders and See and directed the films Hummingbird, Locke, and Serenity. He’s also behind FX’s recent adaptations of Charles Dickens classics like A Christmas Carol and Great Expectations, and — this is 100% true — was the original creator of game show behemoth Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?