An American remake Oldboy is coming. It will be defanged and be dragged, silently kicking and twisting, into theaters.
And the latest name attached to its leash is none other than Spike Lee.
TwitchFilm has the scoop, and reports that Lee is in talks, though not officially attached. The project is set up at Mandate Pictures with Doug Davison and Roy Lee producing, and Mark Protosevich writing the script. No one knows if Will Smith is still attached to star, or if he left when Steven Spielberg did.
Now, I have to grudgingly admit Lee is an interesting choice, and undoubtedly better suited to the story than Steven Spielberg is. He’s not afraid to be controversial, for one, and he’s played well with claustrophobia and entrapment. It would probably be the one [American] Oldboy film that made you want to choke and swing out with a hammer.
But there still remains that nagging, annoying fact that this doesn’t need to be remade, even out of the curiosity to see what “[X] does with the material.” I’ve seen Oldboy. I remain profoundly uninterested in seeing it take shape under someone else. That might just be me, though.
12 comments
I’ve never been against remakes, nor have I understood railing against them. I think all property should be allowed to be reinterpreted by other artists (assuming the creator or rights owner approves). Look at how many great Draculas we’ve had in the past. Legosi, Lee, Oldman, etc…Look at foreign work redone beautifully in english like ‘The Departed’ or ‘Let Me In’ or even someone remaking their own work like ‘Funny Games’. Sometimes it’s a tribute like Van Sant’s ‘Psycho’ or sometimes it’s a studio sucking money from folks by constantly having a ‘Batman’ movie in some form of production. I love ‘Oldboy’ enough to not let a shitty racist director, whose last good movie was almost a decade ago, and a very lucky ill-talented sitcom star ruin the original for me. If Tarantino was directing with Benicio Del Toro starring, people (myself included) would be much more psyched, but sometimes drunken clowns shit in each others pockets and sometimes they completely nail the art of performance. Listen to all the cover songs Johnny Cash has done and try telling me remaking someone else’s art is pointless.
P. to the S.,
Have you (or anyone else out there) seen ‘I Saw the Devil’? Min-Sik Choi has one of the most mesmerizing faces in film right now. Much like Benicio or young Pacino, it’s hard to look away. Motherfucker is on fire in that movie!
“It would probably be the one Oldboy film that made you want to choke and swing out with a hammer.”
You mean the original didn’t?
No, garageman. It didn’t. It totally didn’t. I need Spike Lee’s version to be utterly complete.
I had actually meant to type “American” and thought I had, but my laptop battery was dying, and likely got lost as I hit save and ran to an outlet.
But I realize now my last paragraph left so much open to interpretation that I better go in and add it in brackets. Shall I credit you somewhere in there, my constant shadow..?
Spike Lee? Yaawwwwwn
The New Adventures of New Oldboy. He’s been a prisoner for 10 years and is looking for revenge, she is the daughter that had sex with her father, can these two get along in a Iowa farmhouse and run a country store? Hilarity ensues….
I really, REALLY am tired of american remakes just for the sake of a remake. That’s a waste of time and money. I didn’t see Let Me In because i thought Let The Right One In was done properly the first time. Oldboy was done properly the first time. I won’t spend my money to see a watered down american version any more. The Departed was good, but i don’t think it was better than Infernal Affairs, either. La Femme Nikita = awesome, Point of No Return = lame.
Hey Hollywood, here’s an idea: why don’t you clowns take a look at the thousands of movies made over the last century and remake the ones that were lame. Most movies fit that category. Find a flick that had a good idea at heart, but wasn’t made well and redo that one. Stop insulting us with crappy remakes of good movies.
They’ll stop makin’ ’em when we stop seein’ ’em.
But we haven’t been seeing ’em. Remakes of foreign films have gone relatively unseen recently. This is why I don’t understand the reason for them getting remade in the first place. People aren’t going out and watching these movies.
Here’s a few reasons…
‘Let Me In’ Budget $20 mil, Gross $25 mil.
‘The Departed’ Budget $90 mil., Gross $290 mi.
‘The Next Three Days’ Budget $30 mil, Gross $62 mil.
‘The Tourist’ Budget $100 mil., Gross $278 mil.
‘True Lies’ Budget $100 mil., Gross $378 mil.
’12 Monkeys’ Budget $30 mil, Gross $170 mil.
‘Unfaithful’ Budget $50 mil., Gross $120 mil.
‘Scent of a Woman’ Budget $25 mil., Gross $$130 mil.
‘A Fistful of Dollars’ Budget $225 thousand, Gross $15 mil.
‘The Ring’ $50 mil., Gross $250 mil.
‘Insomnia’ Budget $45 mil., Gross $110 mil.
‘Vanilla Sky’ Budget $70 mil., Gross $200 mil.
And a few more reasons…
‘I Am Legend’ Budget $150 mil., Gross $585 mil.
‘3:10 to Yuma’ Budget $50 mil., Gross $70 mil.
‘The Amityville Horror’ Budget $20 mil., Gross $110 mil.
‘Cape Fear’ Budget $35 mil., Gross $180 mil.
‘Brothers’ Budget $25 mil., Gross $43 mil.
‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ Budget $80 mil., Gross $230 mil.
‘The Jackel’ Budget $60 mil., Gross $159 mil.
‘Dawn of the Dead’ Budget $27 mil., Gross $102 mil.
‘Four Brothers’ Budget $30 mil., Gross $90 mil.
‘Friday the 13th’ Budget $19 mil., Gross $91 mil.
‘Halloween’ Budget $15 mil., Gross $80 mil.
‘The Hills Have Eyes’ Budget $15 mil., Gross $70 mil.
And a few more…
‘The Karate Kid’ Budget $40 mil., Gross $359 mil.
‘Ocean’s Eleven’ Budget $85 mil., Gross $450 mil.
‘Meet Joe Black’ Budget $90 mil., Gross $143 mil.
‘The Mummy’ Budget $80 mil., Gross $415 mil.
‘Ransom’ Budget $80 mil., Gross $309 mil.
‘A Nightmare on Elm Street’ Budget $35 mil., Gross $115 mil.
‘You’ve Got Mail’ Budget $65 mil., Gross $250 mil.
‘Quarantine’ Budget $12 mil., Gross $41 mil.
‘Scarface’ Budget $25 mil., Gross $65 mil.
‘The Texas Chainsaw Massacre’ Budget $10 mil., Gross $107 mil.
‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ Budget $45 mil., Gross $125 mil.
‘True Grit’ Budget $38 mil., Gross $249 mil.
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