Due out 12 December 2008, Keanu Reeves’ big budget remake of the 1951 science fiction classic The Day the Earth Stood Still has all the right ingredients to be his biggest hit since The Matrix. First announced in February 2007, the production is hotting up.

"It's looking good," Keanu recently told Stuff.nz while promoting his latest movie Street Kings.

“It's a great cast: Jennifer Connolly, Kathy Bates, myself, John Cleese, Jayden Smith, and I think we did a great job.”

He said he had finished filming his scenes a month ago and the rest of the filming was completed in April.

So what’s this new version about? Are we looking at another classic or a disastrous Hollywood star studded remake? And how will it differ from the original 1951 science fiction classic directed by Robert Wise?

Reeves told Stuff.nz that he had a lot of input into the script. He said he had worked with the writer and director for almost two months to get the movie right. He also praised the original.

"If you haven't seen The Day The Earth Stood Still I recommend it. I didn't jump into a remake of a classic".

Keanu Reeves stars as the extraterrestrial visitor “Klaatu”, along with his giant 8-foot robotic pal called “Gort”. Contrary to some early Internet rumours they haven’t removed Gort from the remake. Possessing dazzling technological power, Gort was a mysterious and eerie presence in the original movie.

"Gort's there,” Keanu said. “You gotta have Gort. That's like making a peanut butter sandwich with no peanut butter."

Jennifer Connolly plays the love interest Helen Benson, the role of a widow originally played by Patricia Neal.

Apparently Patricia Neal is not keen on the remake. At the 25th Annual 24-Hour Ohio Science Fiction Movie Marathon where the original The Day the Earth Stood Still was played, the 82 year old, who recently suffered a stroke, dazzled the audience, but reportedly said that she thought the remake is a “terrible mistake”. When told Keanu Reeves would be playing Klaatu, she jokingly asked “Who?”

The original 1951 movie tells the story of the arrival of an extraterrestrial ambassador, Klaatu, in Washington, DC. Klaatu is accompanied by a robotic protector called Gort. The design of the original robot was superb. I remember being fascinated by it as a kid watching repeats of the movie on TV, especially when its eye panel slowly slide open after the robot had remained motionless for so long.

Made during the height of the cold war, The Day the Earth Stood Still played on cold war anxieties: Klaatu declares he has come in peace on a mission of goodwill, but tells the people of Earth that now that they had reached the atomic era they risked destroying not only themselves but other alien civilizations if they didn’t change their warring ways. When Klaatu is shot by a nervous soldier, the fate of the Earth hangs in the balance. While Klaatu lies dying, he tells Helen to go back to his saucer and say three words to Gort: “Klaatu Barata Nikto”.

The role of Klaatu was originally played by Michael Rennie, and while Keanu doesn’t look anything like him, I can see the reason for casting him: Keanu has just the right brooding intensity to pull it off.

John Cleese is an excellent choice too for a supporting role. I imagine he'll inject some timely humour into a movie that could come across as preachy if its serious message is overplayed. IGN reports that Cleese will play a physicist Dr. Barnhardt, a Nobel Prize laureate who helps work out why Klaatu and Gort have come to earth.

According to Moviehole, Will Smith’s son, Jayden Smith, plays rebellious Jacob, the 8 year-old stepson of Helen Benson, who first makes contact with Klaatu.

Directed by Robert Wise, the 1951 version was based on the short story Farewell to the Master by Harry Bates. The remake will be directed by Scott Derrickson, a writer, producer and director whose recent directorial efforts include The Exorcism of Emily Rose and Hellraiser: Inferno. The screenplay is by Scott Scarpa, who wrote the screenplay for Robert Redford’s underrated The Last Castle.

While the new movie will apparently be closer to the original short story, Klaatu’s message will be changed from the cold war threat of mutual annihilation to a message of environmental conservation. I suppose this will make Keanu a kind of extraterrestrial Al Gore?

Keanu Reeves recently explained the new approach to MTV:

"The first one was born out of the cold war and nuclear détente. Klaatu came and was saying cease and desist with your violence. If you can't do it yourselves we're going to do it. That was the film of that day. The version I was just working on, instead of being man against man, it's more about man against nature. My Klaatu says that if the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the earth survives. I'm a friend to the earth.

"While humanity still engages in a staggering number of international conflicts, the environmental message is one that, not only encompasses wars, and fights, and terrorism, but one that goes beyond constrictions to become a millennial message of 'what we are doing and who we are as a species,'" said Reeves. "We're trying to reach beyond the idea of environmentalism."

The major danger in this remake is that Reeve's enthusiasm has transformed The Day the Earth Stood Still into a heavy-handed message movie that overshadows the rest of the plot. There's nothing worse than an actor standing on his or her soapbox and preaching to the converted at the expense of everything else.

Still, the more I hear about The Day the Earth Stood Still remake, the more my anticipation grows. With excellent casting choices, the star power of Reeves, Cleese, and Connolly, and all the visual effects that a modern science fiction movie can provide, it’s sure to be a spectacular mix. Keanu Reeves has always been an amazing draw card for the movie going public. As a female friend recently told me: “If it’s got Keanu in it, I’d go and see it anyway!” Perhaps when it’s released in December Keanu Reeves will make the Earth stand still.