Francesca “Frankie” Sutton isn’t in favor of the new “Set It Off” movie that’s being made and she let it be known.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, the character of Frankie was played by Vivica A. Fox in the 1996 classic, which also co-starred Jada Pinkett Smith, Queen Latifah and Kimberly Elise, with F. Gary Gray in the director’s chair.
In September, it was announced that Issa Rae would produce a reimagining of the film through her company Issa Rae Productions and possibly star in it as well. Plus, Syreeta Singleton and Nina Gloster, who’ve worked on the shows “Black Monday” and “Star” respectively, were tapped to help write the script.
Fox recently stopped by “ET Live” and was asked about Rae making another “Set It Off,” and before she even answered her facial expression showed that she wasn’t very fond of the idea. Then she explained why.
“It’s a classic, leave it alone,” said the actress. “There’s absolutely no reason to try to redo it. It’s been done, and we did it so well that people are absolutely going to compare it to that, and I think that’s her taking on a tremendous chore, because that film has become a cult classic and some things are just better left.”
“Like, create your own franchise,” Fox continued. “If you want to do a new film of girls robbing banks, create your own thing. You can make it up to date. We did that film in 1996. We are in 2019 going into 2020. So create your own thing, because people are absolutely going to compare it to it, and she’ll probably, if it’s not good, they’re going to slay her for it.”
Fox was then asked what she thought of the new trend of past films and TV shows being remade, since popular movies like “Boomerang” were reworked for the small screen and there are plans to remake 1991’s “New Jack City” as well.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with it if they do something that goes into the next chapter of the story,” said Fox about the trend. “It’s when they try to recreate it and it already has been done and that magic was captured in a bottle.”
Besides Fox, Pinkett Smith is another person from the 1996 heist film who said she didn’t like the idea of it being remade.
“If they decide to do an extension of it in some way, recast it in some way, I personally think that’s just something you leave alone,” she explained in September. “It’s a classic, it’s done.”
And just like many did when word first surfaced that the “Insecure” star was remaking “Set It Off,” folks blasted the idea after Fox’s interview.
“No no no I’m against a reboot of Set it OFF,” one person wrote on YouTube. “It’s a cult classic, so it shouldn’t be mess with. Issa need to create her own lane.”
“Leave set it off alone! just make a new movie with women robbing banks,” someone else suggested. “Or young women scamming in modern ways. There’s always a new scam… robbing a bank is so dated!!”
But not everyone was against the idea of a reboot.
“Everyone need a chance,” one person commented. “I want to see a remake.”
