November 7, 2008

Steven Spielberg and Will Smith to Unite on a Remake of Oldboy?

Seems like it could happen, according to Variety:
Steven Spielberg and Will Smith are in early discussions to collaborate on a remake of Chan Wook-park's "Oldboy." DreamWorks is in the process of securing the remake rights, and the new pic will be distributed by Universal.
In the 2003 Korean 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 is set on a path to discover who destroyed his life so he can take revenge.
Spielberg had been looking for an opportunity to make a film with Smith, who would play the kidnapped man if all the pieces fall into place. Spielberg is looking for a writer to begin the development process.
The film was originally set at U and then found its way to Mandate.
Spielberg is next expected to direct "Tintin."
-It's still very early in the process, but does this excite you?

6 comments:

  1. No. I hope they leave it alone. Some films should be left alone, and this is one of them.

    ReplyDelete
  2. i'm interested to see what they come up with but i can't imagine they'd ever make something as brilliant as the original

    ReplyDelete
  3. uhmmm is a really bad idea...

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm torn. I believe very strongly in preserving the quality of brilliant foreign films (and Oldboy is certainly one of those), but at the same time it's not like some hack music video director and some nobody star are looking into it. I mean we're talking about Steven Spielberg and Will Smith here. And lest we forget, the last time filmmakers of that prestige level took on an Asian remake, we got The Departed.

    I think it'll be a film that should be judged on its own merits, rather than to be compared to the original. With a good script in place, I could see it being one to look forward to.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I actually agree with you Myles. Those are two high caliber players, so it might turn out to be OK. I have to wait to see the finish product before I judge.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I think the issue that makes me conflicted is that while both are superb artists, neither really strikes me as right for this kind of material, but who knows

    ReplyDelete