Miramax set to remodel The Closet

The popular French farce The Closet—just released in the United States and doing quite well so far on the subtitle circuit—is to be remade as an American film, according to Variety. The movie is the story of a straight accountant who hears that after 20 years at a condom factory he is to be laid off. A gay neighbor suggests that the man invent a gay identity for himself, since a condom company is not likely to risk a discrimination suit for firing a gay man. Not only is his job saved; his standing in the company rises dramatically. No director or casting choices for the project have been announced yet; Daniel Auteuil and Gérard Depardieu star as the faux-gay worker and his boss in the French version, directed by Francis Veber, that’s now reaching American theaters after a very successful run in France. This is the second remake of a Veber film currently in the works for the American market: The Dinner Game, which he directed, is currently under development at DreamWorks. Veber is best known for writing La Cage aux Folles, which became the American hit comedy The Birdcage. Veber also directed the original French versions of the Richard Pryor film The Toy and the Martin Short comedy Pure Luck (La Chevre).