Oldboy remake

[Barashin]

Sigh... Steven Spielberg & Will Smith To Castrate OLDBOY?

Hey folks, Harry here.... Here's a host of elements that on their own... taste great, but when mixed together... sounds like Chocolate, Tuna Fish and Beets. Something I really don't want.

I love OLDBOY, I was the first Western Critic to see the film. It is still the only film that I've ever recorded a commentary for. It is absolutely a brilliant film. We've known for years that Universal intended to remake OLDBOY. For years it was looking like Justin Lin was going to be directing it. There were rumors about Martin Scorsese at one point.

Now, Michael Fleming at Variety is telling us that The King of July 4th... and simply THE KING - have decided to work on their first project together... a remake of my beloved OLDBOY.

This scares the hell out of me. Obviously, this will be a huge American Blockbuster film now. But this story in noway fits that format. This is a film and a story that's a screaming whisper. Personally, Will would need to disappear in the role, and disappearing isn't his forte. This isn't a fast track film, they're just beginning to process - they haven't even found a writer yet (Paul Schrader, Steven - you could get him to write it. He's the only man I'd be interested in writing this film, for you and Will to make. Sadly, I think the script would frighten both of them, but that's the entire point of this movie. If it isn't scary, fucked up and disturbing, leaving the audience scarred and trembling afterwards - everyone involved has FUCKED IT UP! Only make this if that's what you're aiming to do. Otherwise, you're wasting everyone's time.

Upon further reflection - I've decided that under no circumstances should Will Smith play the lead character, but rather the mastermind behind it all... and Spielberg should cast James Gandolfini in the lead role. Can you folks imagine how to make this work out?

 

[CaptainB_Money]

-_- hell no

 

[Bolt]

Seems like I've been hearing rumors flying around about this for years. Didn't they originally want Brad Pitt in it or something?

 

[Barashin]

Seems like I've been hearing rumors flying around about this for years. Didn't they originally want Brad Pitt in it or something?

I didn't hear any rumors or news concerning this movie remake until now. This remake deal however does catch my interest. I'd usually get irritated just by the idea of remaking such a wonderful movie like oldboy, the same goes for the battle royale movie. To tell you the truth, half of my is irritated, no one can replace the original, but at the same time, I'm quite interested on how they'll remake this. Especially since Steven Spielberg is involved.

 

[Bolt]

I specifically remember them fingering Martin Scorsese as a potential director like, more than 6 months ago. And somebody like Leo Dicaprio was named to star. Even then it didn't sound good, now it sounds worse.

I don't see why they would even bother remaking Oldboy; it's not dated, it's not flawed, it's not particularly culturally-isolated, it's just foreign. Isn't that... racism? :eyebrow:

If they do go through with it though, I can see them having to change the story.

 

[Barashin]

Spileberg & Smith's OLDBOY Project Isn't The OLDBOY You're Thinking Of, Even Though It Is!!


A few weeks back we learned that Will Smith and Steven Spielberg were teaming up for a remake of Chan-wook Park's 2003 film OLDBOY. This news had many imagining a dramatically sissified, thoroughly neutered commercial vehicle. WHICH...could still be the case.

This said, some may find comfort in knowing that the original film is not actually being approached by Spielberg and Smith. Will touched on the project while attending the premiere of his new movie, SEVEN POUNDS. FilmSchoolRejects tells us what he had to say:

"We’re looking at that right now. Not the film though, it’s the original source material. There’s the original comics of ‘Oldboy’ that they made the first film from. And that’s what we’re working from, not an adaptation of the film…"

...says Smith in THIS ARTICLE at FilmSchoolRejects.

The comics he's talking about are readily found at amazon.com (HERE). Simply type 'old boy' (no quotes & two words) into the search field to find multiple volumes.

 

[Silversayian4]

Spielberg, Smith Reportedly Adapting Old Boy Manga Itself

Actor Will Smith says team is bypassing Korean film to adapt original manga

The Film School Rejects website reports that actor Will Smith confirmed his involvement in Steven Spielberg's proposed Old Boy film at the premiere of his Seven Pounds film. However, Smith emphasized that the team is adapting Garon Tsuchiya and Nobuaki Minegishi's original Old Boy manga, and not remaking Chan-wook Park's 2003 film version. According to the website, Smith said, "We're looking at that right now. Not the film though, it's the original source material. There's the original comics of Old Boy that they made the first film from. And that's what we're working from, not an adaptation of the film…." The Hollywood Reporter newspaper revealed on Wednesday that screenwriter Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend, Poseidon, The Cell) is in early talks to script the project.

 

[Barashin]

Only god knows how much I love Chan-wook's film. Since then, it's quite hard to find good films like that these days. And as much as I love the film, I'm also ashamed to say that I haven't read the manga yet. As good as Chan-wook's Oldboy maybe, I honestly wanna start reading the source material! Knowing they'll be focusing on the source material itself and not chan-wooks film kinda makes me wonder, not in a bad way though. Just wondering how this'll turn out!! Good or bad, can't wait how this turns out...