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Q: I heard the movie "Mannequin" is a loose remake of another film - is this true?

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

It is, though few seem to mention the fact, including the director himself.
The 1987 comedy hit "Mannequin" is about a chronically underemployed artist (played by brat packer Andrew McCarthy) who gets a job as a department-store window dresser and falls in love with a mannequin (played by future "Sex and the City" denizen Kim Cattrall) - the attraction being that she comes to life on occasion, but only for him.
That's a pretty sweet central metaphor that writer/director Michael Gottleib could be proud of, if it was his.
The thing is, a similar one was the basis for the 1948 Ava Gardner film "One Touch of Venus," wherein a hapless window dresser kisses a statue of Venus and she comes to life, but only for him, and the two fall in love.
And that film was based on the late 1800s novel "The Tinted Venus" by F. Anstey.
However Gottleib said in an interview that he came up with the idea for "Mannequin" when he was walking past a department store window and thought he saw one of the mannequins move on its own.