Richard O’BRIEN has slammed the US producers behind a remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, after they wrongly announced he would co-produce it.

The announcement came through Sky Movies, which is co-finanancing the project and will show the television special in the UK. It was published in UK media, including The Times and The Metro. Sky Movies retracted it once they heard the information might be incorrect.

“Good luck to them,” O’Brien says, in an exclusive interview with Bizarre. “I’m not against a remake but what really cheesed me off was the arrogance of the American producer who announced that I’d given
my blessing to the project before he’d even had a conversation with me about it. I’m not interested in being used and marginalised. You get into bed with some of these people and they’ve got no respect for you in the morning, have they?”

The remake is being produced by the film’s original executive producer, Lou Adler, with BermanBraun and Fox Television Studios for Sky Movies in the UK and MTV in the US.Sky Movies issued a fresh announcement without the reference to O’Brien, pending “clarification”. A spokesperson says: “We
are awaiting clarification on the matter but in the meantime are confident that as the remake – like the original – is being executive produced by Lou Adler, fans can rest assured that the new version is in safe hands.”

The remake will use the screenplay from the 1975 movie version by Jim Sharman and O’Brien, which was adapted from O’Brien’s 1973 stage original. The cast has not yet been announced, though internet rumours from Bloodydisgusting.com suggest Marilyn Manson has been approached for the part of Dr Frank-N-Furter. The production schedule is also yet to be announced, although Adler told US trade magazine Variety that he hopes it’ll air on Halloween 2009.

DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!

O’Brien’s made his own remake of the stage version of the Rocky Horror Show, and Bizarre met him for the premier at the Admiralspalast theatre, Berlin. He’s aiming to bring Rocky back to its roots.

“So much crap had entered the script over the years,” he says, reflecting on the evolution of his classic gender-bending musical masterpiece. “People had added new jokes here and there and it just wasn’t my script anymore. With this new production I restored Rocky to its former glory”.

Choosing to relaunch the latest incarnations of Dr Frank-N-Furter, Janet Weiss and co in the German capital was a no-brainer for the writer: “Berlin is perfect. Groundbreaking expressionist silent movies like The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and vampire legend Nosferatu were born here – not to mention the cabaret. And most importantly, Berlin loves sex and rock’n’roll.”

Today, Rocky’s viewed as an iconic slice of popular culture, and the original film has taken over m (£9m) in the US alone, but when it was first performed it sent violent psychological ripples throughout polite society. “It touched a subliminal nerve within audiences,” O’Brien reminisces. “Deep down everybody is an exhibitionist, and Rocky awakened that streak in people.”

Today, Bizarre folk such as Jonny Woo, Ryan Styles and Adrian Dalton are applauded, but Richard remembers drag acts being much more controversial in the 1970s: “The strength and the power of a man
daring to strut about on stage in high heels and fishnets is wonderful, and in the early days it was exciting because nothing like that had happened before. You wouldn’t believe now how surprised audiences were that they themselves found it attractive.”