by: S. Scott Stanikmas

In a move typical of Hollywood, when a foreign film does good it just HAS to be remade for an American audience. This time around it’s the Swedish darling Force Majeure, a film that swept the Guldbagge Awards (think Swedish Oscars) and won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes last year, as well as being nominated for the Best Foreign Film at the Golden Globes.

FOX Searchlight has picked up the rights to the remake and The Hollywood Reporter is saying that the studio is in talks with Julia Louis-Dreyfus to star.

Louis-Dreyfus is more known for her comedy work, best remembered as Elaine from the hit 90’s sitcom Seinfeld and more recently for her work on the HBO series Veep. She hasn’t had much chance of a chance to showcase her dramatic side, but I do recall liking her performance opposite the late James Gandolfini in Enough Said.

Force Majeure tells the story of a family on vacation in the French Alps. When an avalanche threatens the resort the family is staying at, the father (in an act of extreme cowardice) abandons his family to save himself. Once the disaster has passed and the family is reunited, the dad attempts to reconnect with his family, but his actions have caused a rift in their dynamic that may not be able to be repaired.

No writer or director has been attached at this time.

With the Americanization, I’d expect that the vacation would be changed to somewhere like a New England ski resort or somewhere in Colorado possibly. Either way, the story idea is top notch and attaching Julia Luis-Dreyfus should get potential writers and directors jumping to work with her.