In 1992, viewers were introduced to the disturbing tale of The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, which told the story of a woman who posed as a nanny to get revenge on the person she blamed for the death of her child. You can understand why the premise struck a chord with viewers, and that premise is also central to The Hand That Rocks the Cradle remake that just hit Hulu. While they share that core idea and title, the film’s stars and director have revealed how truly different these films are, and at times, they “forgot” the new movie was a remake at all.
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ComicBook had the chance to speak to Director Michelle Garza Cervera about her approach to creating a remake of such an iconic film, and while Cervera did watch the original, she made sure to approach this as its own project and not only a remake of another film. “You know when they first approached me with the project, I rewatched it just to see what was there that I could play with, but then the moment I got the project I stopped watching it and I also asked the crew to not watch it and not be comparing ourselves or our film with that,” Cervera said.
“Because I feel like if you try to create any creative form, to have a creative process, it’s very hard when you’re working on it as a comparison to something else. I think that’s not healthy and it’s not even respectful of your own team and your own processes. I feel like you really need to start responding to your own themes that you want to explore personally and your own characters and story at the end of the day, so yeah, on a moment I think we all forgot it was a remake,” Cervera said.
Maika Monroe felt the same way in regards to how different the two films are. “I had seen the film prior, but I didn’t rewatch it when I knew I was going to be a part of this. I just feel it’s, it’s really so completely different,” Monroe said. “I mean it feels like a completely different movie besides the surface level of a nanny comes to a house and wreaks havoc, but beyond that it feels like a completely different film to me, I guess.”
Mary Elizabeth Winstead hasn’t actually seen the original, but once she read the script for the remake, she did some comparisons, and she hopes to watch the original soon. “Yeah I had the same. I hadn’t seen the original, but I was aware of it, just the genre that it was and the feeling that it evoked in people. I definitely was aware of it, because most people are. It’s kind of an iconic Title,” Winstead said. “And then when I read the script and fell in love with the script, I looked up the original and I kind of was comparing the two just reading the synopsis and going okay, this is a very different film.”
“I don’t think they live in the same worlds so much, even though the plot, like you said that basic through line is there, so I was sort of like I think I’m gonna let this lie over here for a bit, we’ll go make the movie and then revisit it, and I’d love to see it,” Winstead said.
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is now available on Hulu.
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Image courtesy of Focus Features.
