"The Birds" Remake Flies Again...Ugh!

The long in development remake of director Alfred Hitchcock's 1963 classic "The Birds" has new found new life as filmmaker Diederik Van Rooijen ("Penoza") is tipped to helm the project says Heat Vision.

Van Rooijen is replacing previously attached directors Martin Campbell and Dennis Iliadis.

The new film is expected to be a much closer adaptation of the short story by author Daphne du Maurier than Hitchcock's movie was.

Tippi Hedren  starred as Melanie Daniels, a modern rich socialite is part of a jet-set who always gets what she wants. When lawyer Mitch Brenner (Rod Taylor) sees her in a pet shop, he plays something of a practical joke on her, and she decides to return the favor. She drives about an hour north of San Francisco to Bodega Bay, where Mitch spends the weekends with his mother Lydia (Jessica Tandy) and younger sister Cathy (Veronica Cartwright). Soon after her arrival, however, the birds in the area begin to act strangely. A seagull attacks Melanie as she is crossing the bay in a small boat, and then, Lydia finds her neighbor dead, obviously the victim of a bird attack. The vicious birds continue to terrorize the small town.

Numerous writers have worked on the remake's adapted screenplay over the years--therefore it's unknown what direction  the project will go.

Michael Bay Andrew Form Brad Fuller Peter Guber and David Zelon will produce.