In the history of cinematic cool, few images can beat Gerard Philipe's sad eyed lover in Devil in the Flesh -- a rebel without a cause when James Dean was still playing basketball (and being mentored by a paedophile pastor) in Fairmount High School, Indiana. Remaking the Autant-Lara masterpiece without Gerard Philipe is a bit like remaking Casablanca without Bogart; and even worse,the director chosen for the project is, of all people, Gérard Corbiau -- the Belgian who made the 1994 film Farinelli about the famous Italian castrato. Corbiau is therefore taking a crack at turning Raymond Radiguet's 1923 novel Le Diable Au Corps into a filmed opera,this time.
Fay Weldon (ummm?) is writing both the libretto and screenplay, and the music has been composed by Alain Jomy.
The leads haven't yet been designated, but the main character's parents will be sung by José van Dam and Frederica von Stade.