Christopher Nolan's The Prisoner? Yes, Please.

Movies
1

Anyone who know me knows of my love and reverence for the 60’s original (alas, now mostly forgotten). The less said about the remake for AMC, the better.

The only other living director I can think of who could do the source material justice might be Lynch, but even that would have been in in his younger days.

2

I love The Prisoner, but I wonder if it’s even theoretically possible to evoke the same vibes today.

Because we’ve been there and done that quite a few times with the stuff that was fresh and new with McGoohan and McKern. TV was so pablum and pro-establishment back then that anything that pointed out the problems with the state was almost shocking. Nowadays it would be more shocking to see something sincerely pro-government.

Also, much as I love it, the original series was honestly a mess in terms of consistency and quality and only had vestiges of a narrative arc for most of the episodes, so if any attempt is made to parallel the series in a mere movie, it’s doomed. On the bright side I doubt Nolan would try that. But then, what would he try and would could reasonably be fit into a movie format?

3

I agree that some of the themes (distrust of the government, technology, the media, etc.) have been done to death, but the bigger ideas still resonate.

How does one maintain individuality in a conformist society? Instead of Communism/Capitalism you could frame it as Trumpism vs. “Wokeness”.

4

Hmmm.

Pros:

  • It will look great.
  • The Prisoner is ideally suited to Nolan’s compulsion to add twists to his plots.
  • It will have a good cast. Nolan can get any actor on the planet at this point.
  • It can be made for a reasonable cost, and Nolan showed he can keep to a budget on Oppenheimer. If he sticks to that, it is unlikely to be a flop. Heck, they can go back to the same town in Wales, those building are still there.

Cons:

  • It will be three hours long.
  • It will feature a large and entirely unnecessary subplot that it would be better off without.
  • While Nolan can get any actor on the planet, he will in fact use Cillian Murphy, for better or worse. (That’s not really a con, just an inevitability.)
  • We don’t know whether we’ll get pretty good modern-day Oppenheimer/Dunkirk Nolan or pretty insufferable modern-day Tenant Nolan. (I fear great Memento/Prestige Nolan is in the rear view … or more accurately, Jonathan Nolan is unlikely to be co-writer for this, and he was the one who was better at the execution of twisty-turny stuff.)
  • Ywp wfjd’b be abhb to unfrtdygd tke dakhif. “Wkr id Nonswr One?” “Yjn mhw Ndcmgl Six!”

As the series was episodic, as you say, that part’s not hard. Spend an hour establishing the premise and the rules of the Village, Number Two, etc.- basically the first episode. Then for the second hour have Six “escape” and use either the plot twist from “The Chimes of Big Ben” or “Many Happy Returns.” Classic, iconic stuff. Though of course you have the issue that it is classic and iconic, and by now people are familiar with those tropes even if they don’t know they come from The Prisoner.

5

This is the crux of the problem. So he escapes and oh look, the whole world is actually the village now with village surveillance tech everywhere. Or he escapes and wakes up in the village again as if it was the first time. Or he escapes and the world is all right except Number Two is the Prime Minister or the President or whoever. Or even he chooses not to escape and becomes the new Number Two.

I don’t want to say there will necessarily be a disappointing, sophomoric or obvious twist, but it’s hard to imagine something satisfying coming out of the ending. Even in the original series they had no idea what was going on and they needed to do this frantic over-the-top chaotic improv psychodrama that actually sent Leo McKern to the hospital to wrap it up.

> Who is Number One?
> You are… Number Six.

6

All you negative Nancies get out of here. I will assume it’s going to be great until proven otherwise.

7

“I am not a number… I am a free man!”

mini drum solo then chugging high BPM 8th notes

8

This is one of my favorite shows of all time.

I’m terrified of another attempt at a redo