By Kate Hudson | Film | February 17, 2019 |
By Kate Hudson | Film | February 17, 2019 |
Ever since I read it at 15, Breakfast at Tiffany’s has been one of my favorite books. It’s about a messy, train wreck of a human being (Holly Golightly) who drags other people into her bullshirt because she’s so broken and lost it’s the only way she knows how to live. The people (men) in her life think they love her because they want to fix her, but Holly Golighty doesn’t want to be fixed. She wants to live.
Yeah, for those of you who have seen the movie, that doesn’t really sound familiar does it? Also, she’s a call girl, and yeah, her neighbor whom she calls Fred? He’s a kept man who is heavily implied to be gay.
Awkward.
Holly is also described as blonde, with curly hair and the opposite of waif-like. It’s rumored Truman Capote originally wanted Marilyn Monroe to play her
Also, and this is key, Mr. Yunioshi, Holly’s upstairs neighbor she leads on is not, I repeat NOT described as a white man pretending to be Asian. Shocker, I know.
As it stands, the movie that shares the same name as the book is a very standard Audrey Hepburn romance movie with a beautiful song, and unforgivable racism at its core.
(No, seriously, Moon River is one of my favorite songs of all time and I can listen to it forever.)
The quintessential Breakfast at Tiffany’s it is not, though. Whether you think this story needs its time in the sun again, or not, you can’t argue with the fact that it’s a travesty that Mickey Rooney’s yellowface was allowed on screen in 1961 and is a wrong that should be righted. Which leads me to the premise of this article: What movie is in desperate need of a remake?
Did one completely bungle the story? Horribly miscast the lead? Whitewash the cast? Generally just suck?
Let your righteous anger flow in the comments below—but know this: Moon River has, and always will be, above reproach.