We all loved Sissy Spacek in the original adaptation of Carrie, the Stephen King classic tale of a bullied girl who takes revenge on her classmates. But do you think the remake of Carrie, out October 18, will be "better" because a woman is running the show? Director Kimberly Peirce, known to most audiences for her critical hit Boys Don't Cry starring a then-unknown Hillary Swank, is characteristically thoughtful in her answer in the interview with Shana Naomi Krochmal for Out.
"The minute we say [it is better], we're buying into the argument that only a man can do this, and only a straight person can do that," she says. "So let's not buy into that."I think Margaret and Carrie's relationship is very queer," Peirce says. But she doesn't stop there, she gets all queer theory on Carrie and Margaret, Julianne Moore's mother character.
"Carrie is topped by the mother for the first half of the film, beaten down, dominated. After Carrie has reached her zenith of power [at the school dance], she comes home and she wants to turn back into the child, wants to go back to, 'Mother, I will pray.' Of course the mother lets her. But then the mother tries to kill her and the powers protect Carrie. So you have this phenomenal arc of the bottom becoming the top, wanting to be the bottom again -- but it's too late."
Don't forget, this is also the director who saw a special spark in Channing Tatum, and gave him a serious role in her wonderful, although under-appreciated film, Stop-Loss. "All these [actors] who are coming in are boys," she told producers. "Channing came in and I was like, 'That's a man.' "
Read the full story. Watch the behind the scenes trailer below:
