DreamWorks to remake Quebec comedy hit Starbuck

Hit Quebec comedy Starbuck is heading towards a major Hollywood remake, with members of the original filmmaking team collaborating with movie studio DreamWorks.

"We were completely charmed by the story in Starbuck and saw the potential for a commercial remake with universal appeal," DreamWorks CEO Stacey Snider said on Monday.

The studio is planning an accelerated production schedule for the new version, with casting already underway and filming slated for later in 2012, according to Hollywood trade publication Variety.

Montreal filmmaker Ken Scott, who directed and co-wrote the original, is set to reprise both roles for the U.S. remake. Original producer André Rouleau, a veteran of the Canadian scene, will also join the remake as a producer.

It's the latest coup for the French-language comedy, named the 2011 winner of the Golden Reel Award, which recognizes the Canadian film with the year's highest box-office gross.

Starbuck made more than $3.5 million at the domestic box office, had theatrical release in select international markets and won acclaim at a host of film festivals, including in Vancouver, Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, Sonoma, Calgary and Toronto.

Organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival also named Starbuck one of its top Canadian features of 2011 and it picked up a trio of Genie Awards, including for the script by writer-director Scott and co-writer Martin Petit.

The original film stars popular Quebec actor Patrick Huard as a middle-aged slacker who gets the shocking news that he's the biological father of more than 500 children thanks to prolific sperm donations made years earlier. As some of his offspring seek to meet him, he searches for new direction in life through his newly discovered fatherhood.