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Comment RSSWill Smith & Steven Spielberg In Talks For ‘Oldboy’ Remake
7.11.08 # Remake # 4 Comments
Steven Spielberg is finally moving toward a project worthy of his skills (who the hell is asking for the Tintin trilogy?), with Will Smith set to be his star.
They are both in early discussions to remake Korean masterpiece ‘Oldboy’.
In the 2003 original a man gets kidnapped and held in a shabby cell for 15 years without explanation. Suddenly, he’s released and given money, a cell phone and clothes and set on a path to discover who destroyed his life so he can take revenge.
If this comes together then Steven Spielberg is a strange choice to direct – were it in any way faithful, it would be tonally very different to anything he’s done before. But Spielberg is one of the great directors partly because he continues to challenge himself when he could play it safe (he turned down Harry Potter 1 for being easy money, but made Munich). And if Will Smith is on I Am Legend-intense form then this could be a terrific prospect.
Here’s the trailer for the original:
Source: Variety
Leave your thoughts on the Oldboy remake in the comments.
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I haven’t seen the original, but am aware of the “rawness” of it. I really hope after Indy IV that he redeems himself with this. Will Smith makes me a bit curious as well. Certainly not a role that’s tailor-made for him. Unless he goes “aw hell no!” a lot.
The original Oldboy was awesome, but honestly, I think that the US remaking all of these already good Asian films means that, possibly, we’re bankrupt on original ideas. Besides that, Will Smith as Oh Dae-Su? (the original character’s name)
The original was one of the best films of the year (2003?), genuinely jaw-droppingly excellent. And Will Smith is totally wrong for the part, unless there’s a major shift from teeth-grinding visceral revenge thriller to multiplex friendly unit shifter, and if that happens I’m writing a letter to Spielberg. Not a happy one.
US remake of Oldboy? Should be Fincher and Ed Norton. Or even Cronenberg and Viggo Mortenson. Needs to be dark and visceral.
I agree with the above poster. Will smith is 100% wrong for the part. I am a bit pissed off that this movie would be remade at all, especially only a few years after the original release. A big reason why Old Boy had such an impact was the visceralness (sp?) of it. It was very raw, and hit the person watching it in the stomach more than once. I honestly can’t even really think of a decent actor in the west who could play such a screwed up character as oh dae su successfully. Old Boy goes down in history as one of the best asian films ever made, and I don’t even particularily like korean cinema that often, this is one of the maybe 3 exceptions.
Now, spielberg USED to be a genious, and he could ptentially pull this off with the right cast. Unfortunately, I think it will end up as most of his movies have recently….a shitty remake or spin off, using his name and previous greatness to peddle it.