David Mamet Out to Remake 'The Diary of Anne Frank'

What a curious subject to revisit

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Tuesday, August 11th 2009 at 11:04 PM

I'm not so sure if this is a strange idea or an interesting one as Variety reports David Mamet is setting out to write and direct a new take on "The Diary of Anne Frank" for Walt Disney Pictures. The 1959 George Stevens directed original won three Oscars and was nominated for a total of eight statues. Shelley Winters won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Petronella Van Daan.

As everyone knows, the film was an adaptation of the secret diary kept by Frank while she and her family hid in a secret attic apartment in Amsterdam during the Holocaust. As Michael Fleming at Variety points out, the young girl became an icon after the post-war publication of her diary.

Mamet is said to be adapting not only the famed diary, but plans on making an amalgamation of the diary and the stage adaptation by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich as well as his own original take on the story that "could reframe the story as a young girl's right of passage." Mamet is already writing the script.

Mamet is producing the picture with Andrew Braunsberg who pent a year gathering the rights from the Anne Frank Estate as well as the estates of Hackett and Goodrich.

The move is an interesting one and sounds like it could be a big play for Mamet should it find some serious legs. Mamet's ability to craft a screenplay is sure to attract top talent and could be a source for a breakthrough role for a young actress.