Planned all-girls ‘Lord of the Flies’ remake criticized

CAIRO – 3 September 2017: An upcoming film adaptation of William Golding's classic novel 'The Lord of the Flies' featuring an all-girls cast has already come under criticism online.

Set to be written and directed by Scott McGehee & David Siegel and produced by Warner Brothers, the film will readapt Golding's book with a cast of girls instead of boys. McGehee tells Deadline their reasoning was to take "the opportunity to tell it in a way it hasn’t been told before, with girls rather than boys."

Reception to the idea has overall not been positive however, especially online.
On Twitter, users commented that the gender-reversal missed the point of the books entirely, with a quoted interview from the author himself explaining that he believes girls would have behaved better in that situation;

some director: all girls lord of the flies!!

william golding himself: pic.twitter.com/vnuzK28g20

— jack @ 4 days✨ (@nightheatre) August 31, 2017

Other criticisms honed in on the fact that the project was being helmed by two men, rather than any female involvement;

The concept alone invited immediate scrutiny: The film about girls will be written and directed by 2 men https://t.co/7tE4J2HXNZ

— The New York Times (@nytimes) September 3, 2017

‘The Lord of the Flies’ had previously been adapted in 1990 by Castle Rock and director Harry Hook, and is the book's most famous adaptation. An earlier 1963 adaptation also received mixed to positive reception.
With the wave of scathing online response to the idea, it seems unlikely that this contemporary take will be as well-received as its predecessors.

Lord of the Flies starring only girls: "Girls get marooned on an island. Band together to find food, shelter, rescue. Nobody dies. The end."

— Clara Mae (@ubeempress) August 30, 2017