Jonathan Demme was on the "Today Show" and, somewhat sheepishly, said that the movie was made because the script was great--and why wouldn't it have been?--you have to remember that Hollywood is in the business of *making* movies--so they are always looking for a script that can be made into a movie that will sell tickets--and those are not that easy to come by--

I once heard Penelope Spheeris say that the average studio comes upon, say, 5 or 6 great scripts a year--the thing is that they need to make, say, 10 or 12 films a year, so they are always trying to figure out some way to find things that look like they might be able to turn into something that works--hence the remakes, sequels. prequels, vehicles etc--

Oh--"High Society" was a musical remake of "The Philadelphia Story"--a couple great Cole Porter songs, but, as they say, otherwise uninspired. The Kathryn Hepburn character turns out to have been based on Hope Montgomery Scott--a prominent and quirky Main Line society dame--