If you haven’t seen it, remedy that situation at the earliest opportunity. Oldboy is an incredible, visceral experience, weaving a revenge tale and a mystery together to hugely impactful effect. It can be pretty harrowing at times, but the stand-out virtuoso scene, as star Min-sik Choi works his way down a corridor of goons armed only with a claw hammer, has to be seen to be believed.
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Rumours have been going around for a while that Will Smith wanted to appear in a US remake of the Korean original, which frankly would present a significant challenge to the considerable talent of the once Fresh Prince. Dialling back his trademark wise-cracking to something a lot more measured and restrained (a la I Am Legend or The Pursuit of Happyness) would be absolutely essential, for a start.
Will Smith may still be on board, considering that he has just passed on the lead in Tarantino’s Django Unchained, but today’s news is all about the potential director, one Spike Lee. This is certainly an interesting direction for the remake to take, given Lee’s unquestionable ability as a director. Consider his CV – Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X, Inside Man, Summer of Sam, 25th Hour – it’s not hard to imagine him doing an excellent job with this sort of material, although that of course represents a massive assumption as to how any remake might be pitched tonally. Hopefully it will be just like the original; black as pitch.
Mark Protosevich (Poseidon, Thor, I Am Legend) is working on the script, which gives another Will Smith connection, but we will have to wait and see on that front. With any luck we’ll get a respectful remake in the Let The Right One In/Let Me In or Infernal Affairs/The Departed mould, rather than a pillaging of the source material.
Source: Twitch Film.
