After being announced back in 2020, Kevin Hart’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles remake also starring Will Smith gets another update from the enthusiastic actor. Planes, Trains and Automobiles was released in 1987, starring Steve Martin as Neal, a no-nonsense businessman who is forced to become travel buddies with John Candy’s talkative Del in order to get home in time for Thanksgiving. Hart’s remake of the beloved John Hughes was confirmed to be in development several years ago, but few concrete updates have emerged since.
Now, in a recent interview with ET Canada, Hart confirms that work on his Planes, Trains and Automobiles remake is still underway. The actor explains that the project is still in the script stage, expressing that they’re ultimately just trying to get the story right before moving forward. Check out Hart’s full comment below:
“Still writing! You’re talking about the remake for me and Will Smith? That’s what we’re working on! Excited to figure something out with my guy. Both from Philadelphia, we’ve yet to do anything and we’re just doing ourselves a disservice.
“So, trying to crack the code on this one. But, like anything else, you cannot do it until it’s right, and sometimes that takes time. Lots of drafts, lots of rewrites, lots of brainstorming. We’ll get it there, and when we do, it will be what it’s supposed to be, which is amazing.”
Why The Original Planes, Trains & Automobiles Remains A Classic
Like many of Hughes’ other films, Planes, Trains and Automobiles has since become a comedy classic. Much of the reason for the film’s success remains the on-screen chemistry between Martin and Candy. Both actors had appeared in comedy roles prior to their work with Hughes, but Planes, Trains and Automobiles really helped to cement the two actors as important figures in the comedy movie landscape.
Martin’s grouchy Neal remains quotable to this day (including his curse-laden car rental outburst, which Emma Stone hilariously recreated in 2021), and Candy’s Del is still one of the most iconic and lovable misfits ever put to the screen. The perfect chemistry between the two actors is complimented by Hughes’ hilarious and sincere writing. As with his other films, like Home Alone, The Breakfast Club, Uncle Buck, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Planes Trains and Automobiles balances humor with genuine emotion, creating characters that audiences can really empathize with.
Recapturing this balance in the script is evidently one of the biggest challenges facing Hart’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles remake. It also remains to be seen whether he and Smith will have the same chemistry as Martin and Candy. Unfortunately, however, Hart’s comment would suggest that audiences still have a while to wait to find out, with his Planes, Trains and Automobiles remake still not yet close to entering production.
Source: ET Canada