Director David Ondaatje has been remaking The Lodger. According to The Bioscope:

This time round, director David Ondaatje is setting the film in modern-day Los Angeles, and making The Avenger (originally played by Ivor Novello) a copycat killer (originally Jack the Ripper, maybe).

The Internet Movie Database confirms that this film is either in production or has been completed (depends on which page you access). Looking over the cast list, the names generally conform to the names in Hitchcock’s version of The Lodger (1926). I wonder if this means that the man taking up lodgings will again be a “wrong man” under suspicion.

One point worth noting: one of the athentic Ripper victims’ names actually makes it into the list of characters: Annie Chapman. I wonder how this will play out, though, given that we’re in contemporary Los Angeles (cf. Jack’s Back) and dealing with a copycat—not in London, dealing with a literary version of the Ripper (called “The Avenger”).

The theatrical distributor appears to have a thin resume, while the home entertainment distributor is Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. I wonder if this means that the focus will be on home video rather than theatrical distribution.

Whatever the case, I will be seeing this film… and reporting on it.