Aside from the boos and jeers that generally accompany any news on the full-steam-ahead remake of the Korean classic Oldboy, this latest tidbit is admittedly a best-case scenario, given the circumstances.
After much speculation over who would lead Spike Lee‘s adaptation of the gritty revenge thriller, Josh Brolin has been officially confirmed for the role, with Christian Bale still considering the villain role after he finishes The Dark Knight Rises. [Deadline]
The project has been in the works for some time now, originally backed by Dreamworks with Steven Spielberg directing Will Smith, but has now fallen into the hands of Vertigo Entertainment, Mandate Pictures and Lee’s 40 Acres and A Mule with a screenplay by Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend, Thor). Protosevich will be utilizing his comic book savvy once more, as he plans to pull from the original manga as well as the Korean original.
Although I enjoyed the pseudo-’80s glam camp that was Thor, Oldboy is a whole different animal, and I Am Legend has certainly shown us how effortlessly he can deviate from source material. That said, like most who have seen the film, I imagine that the scribe will trim the taboo subject matter from the story – which at its core is a re-hash of Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo,” revolving around a man who is imprisoned for 15 years by an anonymous captor, only to escape and seek his revenge.
Removing the controversy within the film (I won’t spoil, just watch it) reduces it to standard revenge fare in my mind, but like I said, Spike Lee directing Brolin in even the most banal of revenge tales is the best we can hope to get out of this remake, and it just might be enough to get the naysayers to the box office.
What do you think of Brolin headlining the remake under Lee’s direction, are you excited to see the results?