Everyone knows that Hollywood is addicted to franchises, sequels, reboots and all manner of cinematic rehashings of the pop-culture past. Over 75 percent of the 30 highest-grossing films of the last three years were based on an existing entertainment franchise, which just goes to show there's a reason studios keep reimagining movie history instead of creating something new: audiences love them too.
But do actors? With
Tom Hanks' fave picks — "Night of the Living Dead" and " Nosferatu" — have already been refashioned in one form or another, so the Oscar-winner decided he'd need to strike out for fresh territory. "Why don't you make a brand-new one?" he wondered aloud. "Knock off the remakes. Call it something like 'The Hyundai Accord That Ate Los Angeles.' Wouldn't that be scary!"
Justin Long counted "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" and "Psycho" as his most beloved horror movies, but when it came to starring in a remake, he had a different idea of what would scare audiences. " 'High School Musical 2!' " he told us. "I'd love to play the Zac Efron part. That would be a horror movie if I was the teen-idol guy!"
Though they're not thespians themselves, the guys in
Guitarist Tom Kaulitz's pick? " 'I Know What You Did Last Summer.' " (In his defense, the title didn't sound so silly when he uttered its translation in German.)
Tobin Bell is one man who has been front and bloody center in a scary movie — a bunch of them, in fact: the "Saw" franchise that Kaulitz so adores. But if he had the choice, Bell would take Shakespeare's "Richard III" for a frightening ride. "I think that'd be fascinating," he said, reasoning that while there have been many takes on the play, his would be the scariest. "I love the journey that he takes. He is one of the classic villains and conflicted people."
Uma Thurman has played superheroes, comic villains and martial-arts badasses, but said she couldn't bring herself to star in any sort of scary movie. "I'm not a horror person," the actress confessed. "They really scare me — and it's a big problem. I've never been offered a horror movie. Maybe I don't give people that horror movie feeling!"

Comments