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<v Speaker 1>This is Later with Lee Matthews, The Lee Matthews Podcast

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<v Speaker 1>More what You Hear weekday Afternoons on the Drive.

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<v Speaker 2>Ed Laser is a six time Telly Award winning filmmaker

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<v Speaker 2>and film historian based out of Champagne, Illinois. In addition

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<v Speaker 2>to writing about international remakes, he's restored and remastered Turkish

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<v Speaker 2>adaptations of Rambo and Star Wars, as well as published

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<v Speaker 2>the first English translation of Dracula in Istanbul. His new

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<v Speaker 2>book out is an interesting read. It's called How the

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<v Speaker 2>World Remade Hollywood at Glazier. Let's start with what brought

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<v Speaker 2>you to this topic?

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<v Speaker 3>Sure, well, I was in college and I was, for

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<v Speaker 3>whatever reason, watching all of the Hannibal movies. I think

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<v Speaker 3>I'd just read the books, and Red Dragon had been

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<v Speaker 3>made a couple of times as Manhunter in the eighties

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<v Speaker 3>and then again in the two thousands, and I was

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<v Speaker 3>wondering if there were any other versions that I was

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<v Speaker 3>just unaware of. And so I was kind of surfing

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<v Speaker 3>IMDb and all of the connections pages and discovered a

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<v Speaker 3>Bollywood film called Song Harsh, a remake of Silence of

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<v Speaker 3>the Lambs. And let me tell you, you have not

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<v Speaker 3>lived until you've seen Hannibal Lecter sing and dance in

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<v Speaker 3>a Zoro costume. And from there I had to find

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<v Speaker 3>out what else existed in this world of remakes, authorized

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<v Speaker 3>and unauthorized, and came across the Star Wars and it

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<v Speaker 3>started snowballing from there.

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<v Speaker 2>How the world remade Hollywood Global interpretations of sixty five

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<v Speaker 2>iconic films. It's ed Glazer? Who's a Glazer? Who's joining us? Now?

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<v Speaker 2>So were these films? You said some of them were authorized,

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<v Speaker 2>some of them were not. So many of them did

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<v Speaker 2>have the permission to be remade by the creators of

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<v Speaker 2>the original film.

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<v Speaker 3>I would say far fewer of them than you would expect.

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<v Speaker 2>I thought so too, because they didn't have the budgets either,

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<v Speaker 2>did they.

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<v Speaker 3>No? No, I mean you're talking about countries like Turkey

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<v Speaker 3>or Nigeria, and you know they were. I mean, Turkey

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<v Speaker 3>was at the time in the in the seventies, like

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<v Speaker 3>the third most production productive film industry in the world,

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<v Speaker 3>but it was really fly by the seat of your pants,

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<v Speaker 3>and they didn't have the ability to spend money internationally.

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<v Speaker 3>They couldn't import stuff, so their budgets were super low

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<v Speaker 3>and film was really hard to get hold of, so

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<v Speaker 3>they really were kind of dealing with insurmountable odds to

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<v Speaker 3>make some of these films.

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<v Speaker 2>That was my next question as to, Okay, why why

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<v Speaker 2>didn't they just import the film and dub it into

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<v Speaker 2>their language and off you go.

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<v Speaker 3>Well, in some cases, when I say film was hard

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<v Speaker 3>to get, I really mean the film stock. But yes,

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<v Speaker 3>in some cases some of these films weren't released domestically

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<v Speaker 3>or in some cases, the thing about Hollywood films is

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<v Speaker 3>that they would offer these films for international release, but

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<v Speaker 3>they would be more expensive than their older films, and

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<v Speaker 3>so in countries like Turkey, they'd say, well, we're going

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<v Speaker 3>to wait a little bit to bring this one in

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<v Speaker 3>because we want to wait for the price to go down.

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<v Speaker 3>But hey, we've heard that The Exorcist is really super

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<v Speaker 3>popular all over the world. So since we don't have

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<v Speaker 3>it here yet, I'm going to go off and do

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<v Speaker 3>my own version and see if I can kind of

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<v Speaker 3>make some money based on the hype before the original

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<v Speaker 3>comes here.

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<v Speaker 2>Ed Glazer with us how the world remade Hollywood global

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<v Speaker 2>interpretations of sixty five iconic films. You've already mentioned Annibal Lecter.

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<v Speaker 2>What are some of the other hilarious remakes that remade Hollywood.

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<v Speaker 3>Sure, well, you've got Japanese Spider Man. You've got Turkish Batman,

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<v Speaker 3>also Turkish Superman. You've got an Indian version of The

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<v Speaker 3>Fast and the Furious, a Russian version of Commando, the

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<v Speaker 3>Arnold Schwarzenegger film. You've got Turkish James Bond. You've got

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<v Speaker 3>a Chinese high school musical. You've got Italian Jaws, Italian

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<v Speaker 3>The Warriors, a Japanese paranormal activity. There's just there's so

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<v Speaker 3>many of them, and they're all so fascinating.

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<v Speaker 2>And some of them I'm wondering how legal they were

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<v Speaker 2>in the countries where they were produced. I mean, we're

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<v Speaker 2>talking about some Muslim countries which don't allow a certain

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<v Speaker 2>amount of skin to be shown, or women's faces, or

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<v Speaker 2>certain stretches of sexuality.

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<v Speaker 3>You know that's really true. There is actually an Egyptian

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<v Speaker 3>remake of the Rocky Horror Picture Shows that I talk

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<v Speaker 3>about in the book. And the thing about the Rocky

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<v Speaker 3>Horror Picture Show is that you really can't get away

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<v Speaker 3>with showing that in Egypt, or at least you couldn't

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<v Speaker 3>at the time that this was me and so the

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<v Speaker 3>director of the Egyptian version, who was a big fan

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<v Speaker 3>of the original had to change a ton of stuff,

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<v Speaker 3>like the entire second and third act basically needed a

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<v Speaker 3>complete rewrite, and so they kind of reworked it into

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<v Speaker 3>a story about Dracula, but there's so much of the

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<v Speaker 3>original that's still there, as well as kind of an

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<v Speaker 3>interesting sort of sociohistorical slant that has a lot more

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<v Speaker 3>to do with Egypt at the time than the original

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<v Speaker 3>had to do with American culture. Or you get say

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<v Speaker 3>Indian versions of horror films where the originals are gory

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<v Speaker 3>or there is a lot of skin shown, and it's

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<v Speaker 3>probably not it wouldn't normally be the best option for

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<v Speaker 3>a wide release in India because you get censorship problems.

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<v Speaker 3>But they are releasing these films to the sort of

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<v Speaker 3>lower budget uh you know, the the rural theaters and

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<v Speaker 3>things like that, where you're not getting the sort of

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<v Speaker 3>big budget stuff where you can kind of get away

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<v Speaker 3>with some of that.

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<v Speaker 2>How the World Remade, How the World Remade? Hollywood Global

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<v Speaker 2>Interpretations of sixty five iconic films and Glazier is with us.

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<v Speaker 2>And did any of these filmmakers get rich?

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, maybe not rich, but you know, there's the one

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<v Speaker 3>of the most famous ones is the Turkish Star Wars,

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<v Speaker 3>which steals footage from Star Wars and also music from

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<v Speaker 3>Indiana Jones and a bunch of other films. The whole

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<v Speaker 3>story is kind of a Flash Gordon sort of thing,

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<v Speaker 3>so it's really kind of a hodgepodge. But it's become

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<v Speaker 3>kind of infamous as one of the worst movies ever made,

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<v Speaker 3>which I think is not fair because I think it's

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<v Speaker 3>it's wild and wonderful and relentlessly entertaining.

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<v Speaker 2>So you watched you watched most of these?

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<v Speaker 3>Yes, Oh yeah, I watched. I watched so many of them.

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<v Speaker 3>And uh, you know that film came out and and

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<v Speaker 3>you know, it bought the director a new car, It

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<v Speaker 3>paid off the offices of the film company. So yeah,

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<v Speaker 3>these movies made money. I mean not all of them.

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<v Speaker 3>Some of them tanked. There's an Indian Harry Potter movie

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<v Speaker 3>that just made back twenty percent of its budget or something.

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<v Speaker 2>And that was my next question. We're not talking just

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<v Speaker 2>old films like Batman and Superman. I mean, are they

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<v Speaker 2>still doing this?

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<v Speaker 3>They are, but we're now in an era where they

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<v Speaker 3>kind of can't get away with doing it on the

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<v Speaker 3>qt They kind of have to really pay for the rights.

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<v Speaker 3>They may still remake it in a different way, but

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<v Speaker 3>there's more scrutiny.

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<v Speaker 2>And I would think there are more larger Hollywood studios

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<v Speaker 2>that are willing to produce those versions for the different

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<v Speaker 2>languages and the different cultures because they ultimately get the

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<v Speaker 2>money out of that.

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<v Speaker 3>That is exactly right. And Disney's in China right now

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<v Speaker 3>doing co productions, and they did the High School Musical China.

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<v Speaker 3>There's a lot of companies that are working with Indian

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<v Speaker 3>companies to do remakes. There was an Indian remake of

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<v Speaker 3>that Tom Cruise Cameron Diaz movie Night and Day that

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<v Speaker 3>came out not too long ago.

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<v Speaker 2>And we're seeing it in television too. I mean, how

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<v Speaker 2>many of our current television shows are inspired by a

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<v Speaker 2>British original?

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<v Speaker 3>Oh? Absolutely, so many.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, which is a lot easier understandable than.

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<v Speaker 3>Yes. And well, and you know, a lot of us

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<v Speaker 3>are kind of aware of all of the ways in

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<v Speaker 3>which Hollywood remakes international films, a lot of the Japanese

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<v Speaker 3>war films and so forth, and I kind of wanted

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<v Speaker 3>to turn the mirror around and see how our culture

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<v Speaker 3>was reinterpreted.

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<v Speaker 2>And he goes backwards and does just that, how the

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<v Speaker 2>world remade Hollywood Global Interpretations of sixty five iconic films

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<v Speaker 2>and interesting and amusing read from Ed Glazier. And if

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<v Speaker 2>you're a film, if you're a fan of cinema, you

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<v Speaker 2>will be a fan of this book. And I thank

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<v Speaker 2>you for joining.

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<v Speaker 3>Us, sir, absolutely, thank you so much.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening to Later with Lee Matthews, the Lee

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<v Speaker 1>Matthews Podcast, and remember to listen to The Drive Live

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<v Speaker 1>weekday afternoons from five to seven and iHeartMedia presentation