Alexander Skarsgard and Kate Bosworth Join Straw Dogs Remake

By Kevin Coll • July 16, 2009 • View Comments

We knew there was a Straw Dogs remake in the works and that James Marsden would be starring as the screenplay writer who returns to his wife’s hometown of Mississippi to finish a screenplay.

Now the remake is seeing some new casting news with Alexander Skarsgard and Kate Bosworth joining the cast of the film.

Marsden plays a Hollywood screenwriter who relocates with his wife to her hometown in Mississippi. Bosworth plays the wife, who left the South to become an actress and returns home so her husband can finish his script in quiet. Skarsgard plays her high school boyfriend, an ex-football hero who sees the return of his former girlfriend as a way to reclaim glory.

Bosworth is an okay actress, her beauty is there for sure as she is one of the classiest looking chicks in the biz but she just hasn’t hit home like I thought she would. Skarsgard is a solid actor, the son of Stellan Skarsgard, who is one of my favorite character actors, was almost cast as Thor but to avail Chris Hemsworth got the job instead. He currently stars in the HBO hit series True Blood.

The original version of Straw Dogs was a 1971 film directed by Sam Peckinpah that starred Dustin Hoffman and Susan George. A dark, domestic psychological thriller, the screenplay by Peckinpah and David Zelag Goodman is based on the novel, The Siege of Trencher’s Farm by Gordon Williams.

Controversial to this day, the film is noted for its violent concluding sequences and a complicated rape scene that critics point to as an example of Peckinpah’s (and Hollywood’s) debasement of women. Released theatrically the same year as A Clockwork Orange, The French Connection, and Dirty Harry, the film sparked heated controversy over the perceived escalation of violence in cinema. Nevertheless, it is considered one of Peckinpah’s greatest films. In the original Hoffman played a mathematician while his wife was from Great Britain. You can see how the remake is already different in terms of backstory.

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About the Author

Kevin Coll

Kevin is a film freak, just ask him something movie related and he lights up like a Christmas tree. Originally his destiny was to go to film school, hit LA and try and become the next big thing. Circumstances change but in college, he fell in love with writing. After several failed attempts in starting a legit and hip school online magazine for his university Kevin moved into the blogosphere for himself and began Kevin’s Rant which in 2007 morphed into Fused Film. Kevin has contributed articles on other sites like Geeks of Doom and FilmShaft, he has also been a guest on podcasts for MovieViral and The Film Feed at FS.Net. His favorite movie of all time is Empire Strikes Back, he loves his Chucks, he is an avid Stargate fan and classic rock is his music scene. Email him at: kcoll@fusedfilm.com Follow His Twitter: FusedFilm