The notion of Naomi Watts playing the Tippi Hedren role in a Michael Bay-produced remake of Alfred Hitchcock‘s The Birds (which production sources prefer to call “a reimagining of Daphne du Maurier‘s short story”…bullshit) is at least a couple of years old. The basics were bandied about a year ago by myself, Hollywood Wiretap’s Nancy Vialette and TMZ’s Claude Brodesser-Akner.

(l. to r.) Martin Campbell, Michael Bay, bird victim, Naomi Watts

But Martin Campbell is now signed to direct and Watts is still the star, so Variety is running an official announcement story.

As I said a few weeks ago, people have forgotten (or don’t want to acknowledge) what a stiff, stilted and unnatural film Hitchcock’s Birds really is. The first 30 to 40 minutes are pretty close to horrible. The child actors are detestable. It only takes off with the bird attack on the house, Jessica Tandy‘s discovery of the guy with the pecked-out eyes, the attack on the school, the legendary cafe scene (“It’s the end of the world!”) and then the attic attack on Hedren. It really could stand a remake, or (okay, whatever) a “reimagining.”

Here‘s what Hedren told MTV.com a few days ago about the Bay-Campbell project.