Several years ago, Mr. Randy and myself joined NetFlix and binged on films. This is prior to our actually reviewing so we had plenty of free viewing time. During that period, we watched a fair number of foreign films, including Das Experiment. Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, DE was based on the Stanford Prison Experiment.
Both Randy and I were suitably impressed and thought it was something Hollywood should tackle.
Now they are. Adrian Brody, Forrest Whitaker and Elijah Wood have all signed on for U.S. Remake (THE EXPERIMENT). Prison Break creator Paul Scheuring is both writing and directing.
In a study, a group of men are assigned the roles of guards and prisoners. The plan was to observe how the subjects reacted to their assigned roles as well as the power they were given, or subjected to. Things go horribly wrong as the guards not only take to their roles with fervor, but some displayed brutally sadistic behavior. They also took measures to retain the power beyond the parameters of the experiment.
Oliver Hirschbiegel took things further than the actual experiment (nobody died in the real one) and delivered a gripping psychological thriller.
In the remake, Forrest is the head of the guards and Brody plays the leader of the prisoners.
Filming starts, in Iowa, in late July.
