I just need to correct a few mistakes I made.
I was wrong when I wrote that the Janet Leigh character who is named
Eugenie Rose Chaney in the original does not exist in the remake. In
the remake, her equivalent character is named Rosie who is played by
Kimberly Elise who eventually reveals herself to be an undercover FBI
agent. In the original, we do not know what Janet Leigh really is but
it has been suggested that she is a Communist spy. It is not often
that a man meets a beautiful woman on the Amtrak who immediately
invites him to move into her apartment.
The real problem is to figure out what role this person will play in
our remake, which will called "The McCainian Candidate". We need a
beautiful woman who seduces the protagonist and then turns out to be
something other than what she seems to be. Someone has suggested Ann
Coulter for this role. After all, she is the one who first brought up
the Manchurian Candidate as an election issue this year, so she
deserves the spot.
In the original, the local guide who betrays them is a Korean named
Chinjin. In the remake, the guide is British and is named Laurent
Tokar. He is played by Robyn Hitchcock. I have not thought of anybody
good for this role but since the position is open to both Koreans and
British we should be able to find somebody.
In the remake, the evil doctor who plants electrodes in their brains
which control their behavior is Dr. Atticus Noyle who is played by
Simon McBurney. In the original, evil doctor is Chinese, Dr. Yen Lo. I
can think of somebody perfect for this role but I cannot reveal who it
is until the nominations are finished.
I am afraid I will get into trouble with copyright violations if I
call this computer graphics version "The Manchurian Candidate". The
original name comes from the fact that the protagonists are captured
by the North Koreans during the Korean War and taken across the border
to Manchuria in China where they are brainwashed. In the remake, they
are in the First Gulf War. Almost all the main characters have the
same names but the key facts have been modernized. In the original,
Sergeant Raymond Shaw is the step-son of a United States Senator who
is an imitation of Senator Joseph McCarthy with his declarations that
he has a list of 207 card carrying Communists who are working in the
Defense Department. In reality, the Senator is an idiot who is
controlled by his wife, the mother of Sergeant Raymond Shaw, who tells
him what to do.
In the remake, the mother is herself a United States Senator. The
reason is back in 1961 when the original was made it was almost
unthinkable for a woman to become a United States Senator on her own
merit. In almost every case, a woman got to high office after her
husband who had held that office had died. For example, Senator
Margaret Chase Smith of Maine was first elected to public office after
her husband who held that office died.
Nowadays, there are many women in high office independent from their
husbands, including both senators from California.
The most im****tant change is that in the remake the war veteran
himself becomes the candidate for Vice-President. The plot is that the
evil doctor who is Russian has planted electrodes in his brain that
control him. After he takes office as vice-president, the president
will then be assassinated by the other war veteran who also has
electrodes planted in him. This will enable the Manchurian Candidate,
who is actually under the control of the evil doctor, to become
President of the United States.
Since the Republic of Manchuria had nothing to do with the War in
Iraq, the name is preserved by creating a company named Manchurian
Global who will take control of America after the Manchurian Candidate
is elected and takes office.
Since my tenth-cousin Ann Coulter fits perfectly for the role of the
undercover agent who is working for some unknown entity (it cannot be
the CIA because that would be too obvious) the following parts have
been filled:
John McCain will play Sergeant Raymond Shaw
Hillary Clinton will play Eleanor Shaw.
Barak Obama plays Major Ben Marco
John Kerry plays Senator Thomas Jordan
Ann Coulter plays Rose or Rosie Chaney (interesting coincidence in the
choice of names).
We still need to fill the roles of:
1. The evil doctor. I find it hard to resist putting Ron Paul into
this role.
2. The fetching and beautiful daughter of the Senator. We might
consider Chelsea Clinton or Jenna Bush.
3. The double-agent who betrays them and gets them captured by the
enemy.
4. Al Melvin, the other Gulf War veteran who has similar dreams
thereby proving that something really happened out there and it was
not just a dream.
Any suggestions for persons to fill these roles would be appreciated.
Also, I am not happy with the name "The McCainian Candidate". Perhaps
I can reuse the name "The Manchurian Candidate". Any suggestions would
be appreciated.
Sam Sloan
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