As Clive Owen ponders the villain role in Spike Lee‘s Oldboy, Mia Wasikowska has been offered the female lead of Marie. If Wasikowska accepts, she’ll be starring opposite Josh Brolin, the only star confirmed so far for the English-language remake of the twisted 2003 thriller from Korean filmmaker Chan-wook Park. More details after the jump.
Posted on Thursday, December 8th, 2011 by Russ Fischer
I think this is pretty disappointing. Spike Lee and Mandate Pictures are prepping a new version of Oldboy for an early 2012 shoot, and the film needs a new villain. Well, ‘villain’ is perhaps the wrong term. Regardless, Colin Firth had been offered one of the major roles in the film, and it wasn’t the ‘hero.’ But Firth has passed on the role, so Lee and Mandate have to find another actor willing to step into the shoes of one of the more interesting antagonists to hit movie screens in a while. Read More »
Posted on Monday, November 28th, 2011 by Russ Fischer
The possibility of an American remake of South Korean revenge film Oldboy has been a worrisome thing for a few years now. But this year Spike Lee was tapped to direct, which immediately made the new Oldboy a more attractive, or at least a more interesting proposition. With Josh Brolin set to star and Colin Firth playing the film’s revenge-seeking antagonist, things are looking petty damn good.
We know that Mark Protosevich is scripting and that he is basing his take on the existing movie, as well as on the manga that inspired it, but that he’s also writing new material to make this version stand on its own to some extent. We still don’t have concrete details about the new ingredients, but the film’s producer says that some of the new stuff is being created specifically to throw off audiences who know the original film. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, October 26th, 2011 by Russ Fischer
Friendship can often be fraught with difficult negotiations. When friends are involved in creative endeavors, some disagreement and compromise is guaranteed to be in order. Take George Lucas and Steven Spielberg, who have been friends and occasional collaborators for decades. Their friendship launched the Indiana Jones film series, the last installment of which isn’t quite a fan favorite.
Even Spielberg seems to recognize that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull isn’t such a great film, as per comments he made at a recent screening of Raiders of the Lost Ark. He even seems down on the basic story of the picture, but explains that his friendship and partnership with Lucas is what pushed it forward. Film is all about compromise, even if you’re one of the biggest names in filmmaking. Read on… Read More »
Posted on Tuesday, July 12th, 2011 by Russ Fischer
After being thought dead for quite some time, the new English-language version of Oldboy is really happening under the direction of Spike Lee. His hire was confirmed yesterday via a press release, and the language of the release made the project, which is based on a script by Mark Protosevich, sound as if it is more a direct remake of the Park Chan-wook film than an adaptation of the original Japanese manga that inspired the movie. (We’d once heard that the US version would be based more off the manga than the film.)
Now Twitch, which was first on the scene with the report of Spike Lee’s involvement, says that we can expect to see something that is related to the original Oldboy film in a similar way in which The Departed was to Infernal Affairs. Read More »
Big day for Spike Lee. First he started shooting a new film, rumored to be called Red Hook Summer, and now Mandate Pictures has sent out a press release confirming the recent report that he’ll direct the remake of Park Chan-wook’s Oldboy. (Nice work on that scoop, Twitch!) Get the info from Mandate below. There isn’t a lot of new detail, but the confirmation is good. Read More »
I can’t decide if this is the best news we could possibly have with respect to a new version of Oldboy, or merely the most unexpected. It is certainly an intriguing idea, however. Spike Lee has just been talking about how he can’t get a movie financed — after Miracle at St. Anna no one even wants to make a sequel to Inside Man, which did quite well. But now there is this report, which says that Spike Lee is in talks to direct the long-rumored remake of Oldboy. Read More »
Posted on Wednesday, June 15th, 2011 by Russ Fischer
Rumors of a fourth Jurassic Park movie have come and gone for years, but with the latest report it seems like a new film in the series is more likely than ever. A quick recap of the stories about the sequel: Joe Johnston, who directed the third film as well as this summer’s Captain America, was once thought to be the director, but said in 2007 that he would not make the film. (Prior to that, Steven Spielberg said that if Johnston didn’t make the movie, he would.) There have been fake scripts, weird rumors (dinosaurs with guns) and loads of fan-created images.
After Jurassic Park creator Michael Crichton died, producers Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy suggested they might just leave the series at three films. But rumors persisted, and a new comic book series was put into motion.
Now Steven Spielberg has been meeting with writer Mark Protosevich (Thor, and the scrapped Oldboy remake) about ideas for Jurassic Park 4. Read More »
