Spike Lee to direct Oldboy remake

Sad Professor

Twitch has learned that Spike Lee is currently in talks to direct the long-rumored Hollywood remake of Park Chan-Wook´s Oldboy.

Word of a US remake of the Park Chan-Wook revenge classic first surfaced in 2008 with word that both Steven Spielberg (in some capacity) and Will Smith were eyeing the project and now it appears to finally be moving ahead.

The film is set up at Mandate with Doug Davison and Roy Lee producing and Mark Protosevich (Thor, I Am Legend) writing the script.

Lee is a shocking but intriguing prospect to direct this material and a damn sight more interesting than most of the director´s whose names have been floated as possibilities over the years. As for Smith, there´s no word yet if he is still involved but the man did just refuse the lead role of Tarantino´s Django Unchained, which would suggest he´s got something else in the works.

http://twitchfilm.com/news/2011/07/breaking-spike-lee-in-talks-to-direct-oldboy-remake.php

Even with Lee directing, is there even the slightest chance that this won't be watered-down crap?

johnny_ultimate

Sad Professor wrote: »

Even with Lee directing, is there even the slightest chance that this won't be watered-down crap?

Probably not, but hey there'll probably be some angry monlogues about race where once there was squid eating.

Galvasean

Spike Lee can't even get a cinema release these days. Seems an odd choice.

Mickeroo

Galvasean wrote: »

Spike Lee can't even get a cinema release these days. Seems an odd choice.

Sure does, don't know what to make of this tbh. Although Inside Man was a really good film. I would have thought this would be more up someone like DAvid Fincher's alley. WAsn't Spielberg linked to this at one point?

Da Shins Kelly

For the love of God..

e_e

Honestly I would've thought Sympathy For Mr Vengeance would be more suited to Lee's style.

Not that I'd want that to be remade either.

Typhoon.

Just watched Oldboy last night for the first time, seen it recommended here so I said I'd check it out

Thought it was an excellent film, cant see a remake being anywhere near as good, wont have the same gusto

Ridley

I thought it was another adaptation of the manga and not a remake..?

Mickeroo

Well it's now confirmed Lee is directing, and Josh Brolin is linked to the main role.I have no idea what to make of Lee doing this!!

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/50331

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/50349

It makes sense for Lee to take this on, after the massive failure of Miracle at St Anna Lee cant even get financing for his Inside Man sequel. Old Boy with an A list star is a guaranteed cinema release and if it's even a small commercial success it'll make financing his next film slightly easier.

CardBordWindow

When's the last time Hollywood had an original idea?!
Why can't they just leave a good film as it is?

blodvyn

Don't like the idea of a remake, especially with lee, I do love the thought of brolin!

Mr. Denton

CardBordWindow wrote: »

When's the last time Hollywood had an original idea?!

Probably Inception. So another one is due any decade now.

Mickeroo

Deleted User wrote: »

It makes sense for Lee to take this on, after the massive failure of Miracle at St Anna Lee cant even get financing for his Inside Man sequel. Old Boy with an A list star is a guaranteed cinema release and if it's even a small commercial success it'll make financing his next film slightly easier.

I'm sure it makes commercial sense for him to do it but I just can't imagine his style applied to the story of Oldboy. That could turn out to be a good thing though I suppose!

ziedth

Mr. Denton wrote: »

Probably Inception. So another one is due any decade now.

Off topic but I heard that Inception was very close to a story in (of all things) a Scrooge McDuck comic.

Anyway, I can't imagine how this could work. It wouldn't be as good if it wasn't so crazy and there is now way it won't be watered down for the US market.

Mickeroo

ziedth wrote: »

Off topic but I heard that Inception was very close to a story in (of all things) a Scrooge McDuck comic.

S.M.B.

CardBordWindow wrote: »

When's the last time Hollywood had an original idea?!
Why can't they just leave a good film as it is?

And why couldn't those pesky Koreans just leave a good Japanese manga as it is?

Ridley

Apparently They're taking the elements They like from both the manga and movie.

Or at least that's what an unnamed source says.

With Spike Lee now officially locked to direct a US version of Oldboy the question nobody seems to have asked yet is what will provide the actual basis of this new version of the film. Many forget that Park Chan-Wook's South Korean film was itself an adaptation of a previous Japanese manga and so the question becomes which will provide the basis for the US film.

And the answer is both.

A source close to the production tells Twitch that writer Mark Protosevich is using both the Korean film and the Japanese book as reference points for his own script. While the previous film will have more of an influence on the Protosevich script the manga will definitely also be present. Beyond that we are also told that the approach here is not unlike that employed with The Departed, a film from the same producers which used characters and scenarios from the source material as a launching point while also jettisoning several key elements and events from the original film and working significant amounts of entirely new material into the mix. We're told roughly twenty percent of the Protosevich script is entirely new material.

So here's what to expect. Just as Park Chan-Wook took a central concept from the Japanese manga while radically re-envisioning parts to create something new, the goal here is not to create a slavish shot-for-shot remake but to take elements of the Park film combined with elements of the manga and completely re-envision and re-contextualize those to create a specifically American story around the same concepts and themes. Time will tell what that actually looks like on screen.

Clandestine

I feel like this is one film that shouldn't be remade. Not to mention, Spike will no doubt try to fit some sort of race issue into the film

Mayoman911

Mayoman911 wrote: »

I feel like this is one film that shouldn't be remade. Not to mention, Spike will no doubt try to fit some sort of race issue into the film

Not everyone of his films is concerned with issues of race, Inside Man for example.

A remake of Old Boy could be quite interesting if they don't compromise on the ideas and themes played upon in the original. That they are using The Departed as a template is also somewhat assuring, nothing worse than a scene for scene remake.

kraggy

No matter who directs it or who stars in it, it will NEVER match the original Oldboy film.

려차 sake Hollywood, make your own shit.

Dog Lipstick

It really is a sad indictment of Hollywood that they can't manage to pull an original script and make a decent imaginative movie in modern times. Re-makes of foreign movies a few years after their release and comic book movies are all we seem to get with a few exceptions. Was a remake of The girl with the dragon tattoo, Let the right one in and now even Spiderman (I know it's not foreign) really necessary?

Mr. Denton

Dog Lipstick wrote: »

It really is a sad indictment of Hollywood that they can't manage to pull an original script and make a decent imaginative movie in modern times. Re-makes of foreign movies a few years after their release and comic book movies are all we seem to get with a few exceptions. Was a remake of The girl with the dragon tattoo, Let the right one in and now even Spiderman (I know it's not foreign) really necessary?

Well why even make a movie at all? The three you mentioned there were all originally books of one form or another, so what you're getting on the screen first time around isn't technically original to begin with.

JP Liz V1

Josh Brolin is in also

UglyBolloxFace

e_e wrote: »

Honestly I would've thought Sympathy For Mr Vengeance would be more suited to Lee's style

Really? These films are nowhere near Lee's style. He's a great director with some astounding films, but in my opinion it is sheer stupidity giving him the Oldboy directorial role.

Ranz

Could be worse.

M Night Shymalan could be directing the remake.

johnny_ultimate

Or they could, you know, just not make it :pac:

paddy kerins

It's gonna be tough to beat that corridor fight scene. Also the entire film

S.M.B.

They already have I'm afraid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Q-rW1FZMX8

The elevator being within such easy access adds further levels of depth to the protagonist in my opinion.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

by uploading a video to youtube that never ****ing plays?

crafty indian bastards

Sad Professor

I really hate Flash. Video won't play for me either. But plays fine in HTML5 on my iPad.

S.M.B.

Working fine for me on multiple machines anyway.

You're not missing much.

Is there any confirmation that Bale is in line to play the villain?

lestat21

Ive heard that there was going to be a remake of the brilliant and controversial old boy, and now it looks like its going ahead.. and somehow its going to have a darker ending!!

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Oldboy-Remake-Have-Darker-Ending-Tweaked-Hallway-Scene-28075.html

I loved the orignal and Im really sceptical of any hollywood remake.. What do ya think??

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

darker ending? i'd heard originally it was going to try to end on an upbeat note..

either way boo, hiss.. watch the original

Gee Bag

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

either way boo, hiss..

I'd like to second that boo, hiss...

Links234

really hope this doesn't get remade

bluefinger

classic movie. can't be bettered.

lestat21

“This is a brand new script by Mark Protosevich,” said Lee of the most recent draft of the film’s script. “It is very similar to the film, but Protosevich has added new elements that will throw off the audience who have seen the original movie because there are new characters and new situations that present themselves in a way that change the story but eventually go in the same direction.

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They're just admitting to messing with perfection now...

Has anyone heard where the remake will be set?? Looking it up there I couldnt find anything.. It cant be set in America, not with the live octopus scene....

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

pffft, they'll just turn the live octopus scene into a double bacon and cheese from burger king

paddy kerins

Josh Brolin is the lead. Colin Firth turned down the bad guy role. I think they're trying to get Christian Bale in for it. At least they're trying to get good actors for the roles

doctor evil

I hate remakes, its like some ignorant knee jerk reaction against any film that uses subtitles.

bnt

It looks like Spike Lee has found his baddie: Sharlto "fockin' prawns" Copley. I didn't see the A-Team film, so I don't know what his American accent is like ...

Aidric

Oldboy is a masterpiece. Leave it alone.

Acacia

I really don't see the point in ''re-making'' this. Sure, it's not even that fookin' old. Seems like a bit of a lazy cash-grab catering to the ''can't-be-bothered-to-read-subtitles'' demographic.

Mickeroo

bnt wrote: »

It looks like Spike Lee has found his baddie: Sharlto "fockin' prawns" Copley. I didn't see the A-Team film, so I don't know what his American accent is like ...

Nice. He was the best thing in the A-Team and was downright legendary in District - 9. This should be a more subdued role for him though, going by the original film anyway.

keith16

I am dissapoint. Will I watch it? Yes. Will I enjoy it? No.

pookiesboo

Dont know if its been posted already but Spike Lee is remaking Oldboy with Josh Brolin and Elizabeth Olsen. Can American directors not come up with an original thought themselves. Grrr


http://screenrant.com/josh-brolin-oldboy-spike-lee-sandy-129610/

2smiggy

:eek::(

Cos there was one already there? Which your thread is now part of?

JP Liz V1

Samuel L Jackson joins

ThirdMan

Another pointless remake for dumb Americans that are lazy and/or illiterate.