Joseph Ruben to Remake 1946 Thriller The Stranger

Joseph Ruben, director of The Good Son and Sleeping with the Enemy, has been tapped by MGM Releasing to direct Orson Welles’ 1946 noir-thriller The Stranger.

The original film told the story of an agent of the War Crimes Commission (played by Edward G. Robinson) traveling to Connecticut to hunt one of the engineers of the Holocaust. The remake, penned by newcomer Alanna Belak, appears to have drastically changed the characterization to making the remake about a reformed serial killer, now a small-town professor, who is visited by his old partner in plans for them to start killing again.

I have no idea why someone would remake an Orson Welles film but if I see even the rumor of a remake of Citizen Kane I’m burning down Hollywood.